ELearning Applications Introduced to Schools in Romania
Bucharest (RO), September 2008 - Over ninety primary and secondary schools all over the country were provided with Myria Educational computers in the first part of 2008. This was done through an extensive program sponsored by ALTEX, one of the leading Romanian retailers of household electrical appliances, electronics, ICT, and multimedia. Elena Lita of CHECK.point eLearning writes about this large, nationwide programme to introduce PCs and eLearning applications in Romania.
Many talented-but-disadvantaged children have received educational PCs from ALTEX within the framework of a nationwide humanitarian action. Being the first Romanian brand to bring the educational concept into the home PC segment, the Myria Educational project aims at offering a perfectly adapted product for the needs of pupils and parents who want to get involved in their children's education.
The Myria Educational PCs consist of two dedicated desktop systems: Myria eCreativ 6+ (for primary school) and Myria eCreativ 10+ (for secondary). Both systems are configured on a Windows Vista Home Premium-certified hardware solution and are able to support multimedia applications and advanced games, which come being pre-installed with a complete software package. The difference between the two is the respective multimedia educational software packages dedicated to each level.
For six-to-ten-year-old pupils, Myria eCreativ 6+ proposes a package of six eduCreativ programs. The eduCreativ products transform a lesson into a captivating story full of wisdom, while the feared test is transformed into a series of challenges by which the eduCreativ heroes weigh the knowledge of the little ones. The play and the didactical aspects are happily blended in favor of the latter.
For ten-to-fourteen-year-old pupils, Myria eCreativ 10+ brings multimedia interactive AeL lessons developed by SIVECO Romania to the home PCs. These lessons were designated as the best educational content in the world at the World Summit Award (equivalent to an Oscar prize in IT). There are also four DVDs, which contain the BBC documentaries "The Blue Planet" and "The world of Dinosaurs".
All the computers in the Myria Educational Series come with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed. The Windows Aero interface and the 3D browsing function offer attractive tools for organizing, viewing, and using the information. Meanwhile, the full software suite delivered by Microsoft - the Office 2007 Professional Suite, the Encarta Encyclopedia, the Learning Essentials applications, and the Math 3 RO - helps children to better organize their time and activities, do their homework, and prepare for ther future.
Another relevant feature of the Myria Educational PCs is that almost the entire pre-installed software - the operating system, the educational software, and all the utility apps - is available in Romanian. The only exception is the Encarta Encyclopedia, being specifically pre-installed in English to help the children improve their English vocabulary in an easy and context-accurate way.
The project also emphasizes developing the creativity and organizational skills of the children, even outside the school curriculum. To do this, the Windows Live service allows them to stay in touch with their schoolmates or teachers by facilitating conversation, working, and file sharing in real time, while the Myria eCreativ package delivers three games appropiate to their age, covering some of the children's most beloved subjects - zoo, lego, and offroad racing.
The two PCs are part of the 2008 Myria Educational Program, which, in addition to the effort to extend access to quality computers, also addresses key aspects in the education area by responding in an integrated way to issues like responsibility regarding children's use of computers, access to computers in schools, the involvement of the entire family in the educational process, the use of the Internet and multimedia applications as modern learning tools, as well as the necessity to blend learning with games.
Related to the program, this year multiple meetings and events have been organized across the country on the topic of how to make the computer safer for children. This has given parents the opportunity to find out directly from experts in the field how to use the parental control tools included in the Windows Vista Operation System to better monitor their children's activities.
The Myria Educational Program is the result of an exceptional partnership that involves industry-renowned software and hardware producers - Microsoft, SIVECO Romania, AltFactor, AMD, Gigabyte, ALTEX, and CES, ALTEX's PC production unit. The project was developed in order to provide the Romanian market with a full and efficient educational product based on the newest technologies.
