ICT in education: the partnership between Varietas Foundation and Acer

One of the most stressed contemporary challenges for education is adapting teaching methods to the increasingly digitalized context students face every day.

The school group Varietas Foundation chose Acer as a partner, delivering a perfect example of how to introduce ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in teaching activities to leverage its innovative power.

More about Varietas

Boasting 30 locations in the Sallan and Twente region in the Netherlands, Varietas is a school foundation with innovation at its very heart.

Being fully aware of the impact of technology on students’ learning processes, Varietas understood the importance of embedding ICT in education. This way, the digital context pupils grow into could become a valuable support tool for their learning experience. 

In 2018, the foundation embarked on a mission: to find the ideal partner to supply the laptops needed to make their vision a reality. Acer proudly accepted the challenge after being chosen to help them reach their goals.

Five years in, the school has provided every pupil from grades 5 to 8 with an Acer TravelMate Spin B3 laptop – a total of 4,500 devices during this period.

Strolling through the De Vijf-er Primary School, part of the Varietas Foundation, one cannot help but notice the “laptop carts” parked outside each classroom’s entrance containing the charging devices awaiting students following the school day.

Acer laptops: flexible tools for students & teachers alike

Acer is always on top of innovation: as generations evolve, the devices follow. Moreover, Acer laptops are user-friendly devices that the school personnel also find very sustainable thanks to the long-lasting battery lives and the rugged designs that protects them from quite the rough play.   

“In rounds of a few hundred, Acer now delivers new laptops each time. So that there are always up-to-date devices ready for a new generation of students” says Marcel Heinst, Varietas School Group IT Admin.

The Varietas Foundation found that the Acer TravelMate Spin B3 best fitted its specific needs. The model’s flexibility emerged as its most appealing feature. First of all, it’s a small and handy device that can shift into a tablet, thanks to the 360-degree hinge. Secondly, it’s equipped with a world-facing camera and an HD touch screen, alongside a dockable Wacon pen that allows students to draw or write directly on the device’s screen.

Moreover, Acer laptops are user-friendly devices that the school personnel also find very sustainable thanks to the long-lasting battery lives and the rugged designs that protects them from quite the rough play.   

 “The first thing the children say during the morning in grade 5 is: are we going to work on the laptop?” – Daphne Nijland, Teacher, De Vijf-er Primary School.

Finally, pupils appreciate Acer laptops so much that they are eager to start working with them in the classroom. But teachers are also seeing the significant benefits their classroom addition can bring.

As Daphne Nijland attested, all colleagues agree on the difference the laptops make in managing the workload and the classes themselves. Assignment results are immediately visible to teachers, which helps quickly identify students’ improvement areas and supporting them during the evaluation process.