A Samsung Digital Classroom in London, United Kingdom, recently received a visit from some highly prestigious guests. Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales marked the 40th anniversary of The Prince’s Trust by visiting one of the charity’s Centres in Kennington, South London.
The visit saw the Royal dignitaries hear from young people about how The Trust has helped them find employment or get into education and training. This included a visit to the Centre’s Samsung Digital Classroom to see how the technology is making an impact on the interactivity of their lessons.
In the last four decades The Prince’s Trust has given over 825,000 disadvantaged young people the skills and confidence to find a job. Three in four young people who receive help from The Prince’s Trust move into work, training or education.
Samsung has been a supporter of The Prince’s Trust since 2012 through The Prince’s Trust & Samsung Celebrate Success Awards and has been introducing Digital Classrooms into its Centres. Each Digital Classroom, equipped with an interactive whiteboard, Galaxy tablets, PCs and digital cameras, creates an enhanced interactive learning environment and gives young people an opportunity to pick up vital digital skills. The Samsung Digital Classroom at the Kennington Centre opened its doors in March 2014.
Aleyne Johnson, Head of Government Relations and Citizenship, Samsung UK said:
“We are honoured to have received a visit to one of our digital classrooms from Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales. Samsung shares the desire of The Prince’s Trust to enhance the lives of young people. The classroom at The Prince’s Trust is part of our wider Digital Classrooms programme, now in its third year. We have been working hard to establish Digital Classrooms at schools across the UK, providing them with access to Samsung’s technology, but also teacher training and connectivity, with the aim of making lessons more enjoyable and engaging.”
A recent survey, commissioned by Samsung, of young people attending the Kennington Centre has revealed the technology is already making an impact on their experiences. Of young people surveyed at end of 2015 (who had taken part in the programme since January 2015):
- 82% said that using a computer in lessons makes learning more interesting
- 76% said they’d ‘learnt a lot’ in the Samsung Digital Classroom
- 64% agreed with the statement ‘I worked more effectively with my classmates when in the Samsung Digital Classroom’
The findings are reflected in the comments of one of the Centre’s tutors. William O’Connor, Literacy, Language and Numeracy Tutor, said:
“The sessions I run really benefit from the interactive screen in the Samsung suite. It is a great way to energise the young people as it gets them up on their feet and brings a tactile, hands on aspect to the session. Being able to display apps/programmes on such a large screen really services to bring them to life and increases their impact.”
Samsung is continuing to work closely with The Prince’s Trust to introduce technology initiatives, embedding digital and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills across its programmes. Beyond London, Samsung Digital Classrooms have been opened at The Trust’s Centres in Stoke-on-Trent and Glasgow.
