12/24/2020
Taipei, Taiwan (December 21, 2020) – To demonstrate a futuristic teaching environment, Tamkang University (TKU) and ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual and education solutions, joined hands to implement "Classroom 4.0" with the latest education technologies and Artificial intelligence (AI). TKU set up a “Reality Fields” in its newly established department - "the College of Artificial Innovative Intelligence". By introducing ViewSonic's total solution, including the interactive display ViewBoard, the digital education platform myViewBoard, and built-in wireless presentation technology, the university can implement “Classroom 4.0” that focuses on interactive digital education in real-time. Moreover, the "Hands-on Labs" in the “Reality Fields” adopts ViewSonic's latest AI technology myViewBoard Sens which can analyze students' emotions and frequently detects the environment. It enhances teacher-student interaction and optimizes the overall learning situation to make “Classroom 4.0” smarter.
Dr. Tzung-Hang Lee, Dean of the College of Artificial Innovative Intelligence at Tamkang University said, "Tamkang University established Taiwan's first virtual operational hub department 'the College of AII', which allows every student in TKU to sign up for any courses anytime or anywhere. The newly built ‘Reality Fields’ incorporates ViewSonic's digital education platform and AI technology, setting a new example of a future learning environment for academics. Not only does this benefit existing teachers and students, but it also provides over 280,000 alumni and companies with support and counseling for their digital transformation. With the hope that the newly founded department will lead the trend in the future and connect seamlessly with businesses, creating synergy in teaching, research, and industry-academia cooperation."
"ViewSonic is committed to promoting the educational ecosystem by utilizing its successful experience in the global development of educational technology. We are happy to cooperate with Tamkang University to combine innovative ideas of both parties and implement the concept of Classroom 4.0", said James Chu, Chairman and CEO of ViewSonic. "As a pioneer in educational technology development, ViewSonic has spared no effort in investing in advanced technologies. In this partnership, we applied AI to the education scene, analyzing students' reactions and the classroom environment in real-time. This allows first-line educators and schools to learn about students' feedback and continuously improve teaching and the learning environment, marking a new milestone for educational technology development."
To build a model teaching environment, “the College of AII” provides education programs on virtual platforms and presents them in the “Reality Fields”. The platforms include the latest AI technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Edge Computing. It also explains how these technologies are linked to innovation and launching a business. The “Reality Fields” provides a teaching environment different from the traditional scene and is available for all teachers and students. During classes, teachers can use ViewBoard and myViewBoard platform to give more vivid and exciting presentations, connect to the cloud platform to retrieve information quickly, and use various interactive tools to improve learning, such as quizzes or Q&A exercises.
Moreover, ViewBoard's build-in wireless presentation software Cast, provides complete sharing and collaboration functions to satisfy different scenarios, increasing interaction between teachers and students. For example, teachers can broadcast, synchronize the content of the central ViewBoard to other display devices, enabling all participants to share information easily and swiftly. During group discussions, students can share content from their own devices to the central display. To consolidate the results, the screens of each group's conclusions can be shown on the central ViewBoard simultaneously by the split-screen feature.
myViewBoard Sens, which has a built-in AI technology that recognizes emotions such as angry, sad, neutral, and happy, is installed in the “Hands-on Labs”. Teachers can monitor these results through personal devices like smartphones and adjust their teaching methods immediately. The analyses will be uploaded to the cloud for subsequent analysis of learning results. myViewBoard Sens also incorporates sensors that detect temperature, humidity, lighting conditions (such as brightness and color temperature), noise levels, and motion. This is used to understand which environment will get students' best learning responses, providing educators with valuable feedback on how to improve lectures. Furthermore, optimizing and creating an efficient teaching environment.
About Tamkang University
Founded in 1950 as the Tamkang Junior College of English by Mr. Chang Ching-Sheng and his son Dr. Clement C. P. Chang, Tamkang University (TKU) was Taiwan's first private college. It became the Tamkang College of Arts and Sciences in 1958, before being elevated to Tamkang University in 1980. From its humble beginnings as one of the first schools of higher education in Taiwan, TKU now has four campuses: the Tamsui Campus, the Taipei Campus, the Lanyang Campus, and the Cyber Campus; comprised of nine colleges, with a total of about 24,000 students, around 2,000 faculty and staff members, and more than 270,000 alumni. Tamkang is a university of ideals, vision, and creativity. It sees the pursuit of excellence and ongoing innovation as characterizing sustaining its fundamental management philosophy. For more information, please visit: https://www.tku.edu.tw/
