Interactive 4K Touch Displays Make a Smarter, Safer Classroom

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips Professional TV and Digital Signage products and solutions, is helping to make classrooms in North America smarter, safer, and more engaging and inclusive with the availability of its new dedicated Philips T-Line interactive 4K touch-display range, built exclusively for education.

Unveiled as a prototype at ISE 2020, the Philips T-Line’s features and functionality have continued to expand and evolve to address the constantly-changing health and safety issues—including social distancing and distance learning requirements—that have ensued. This has culminated in a display that combines best in class design, advanced technology, and leading software, to facilitate truly transformative levels of engagement and collaboration between students and tutors, whether they’re in a classroom or joining remotely.

Available in North America immediately, the sleek and stylish T-Line range comes in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 86-inch size variants and was conceived following extensive consultations with leading education institutions.

Boasting a high-performance anti-glare and anti-reflection 4K screen—perfectly viewable in any lighting condition—T-Line is equipped with a wide range of out-of-the-box features, designed to help motivate, empower and inspire teachers and students, turning once traditional, sometimes static rooms into a hot-bed of active interaction and, crucially, sustained engagement.

According to some psychologists, the average student’s attention span is typically between ten to fifteen minutes, while classes/lectures typically last between an hour and ninety minutes. Meanwhile, research indicates that 65 percent of the population has a visual memory, indicating the need for more advanced visual presentation of information—all of which can now be achieved seamlessly with T-Line’s extensive viewing and sharing capabilities.

Overcoming Historic Barriers and Frustrations
Classroom
Designed on feedback to address and overcome historic barriers and frustrations in teaching and learning environments, the new dedicated interactive Philips T-Line for education, brings previously unseen levels of collaboration and engagement between students and tutors, whilst addressing modern needs around safety and social distancing.

“With the education technology market set to more than double in value by 2022 to $40.9 billion, the role of technology in classrooms has not only become an essential component for teaching and learning, but it is also increasingly a deciding factor for parents and students when selecting their school, college or university,” said Joe King, vice president of PPDS, North America. “We feel a deep responsibility in supporting the education market, perhaps more so than ever with the current situation, ensuring students and tutors alike have the tools they need.

“As with all products and solutions at PPDS, we’ve really done our homework and used our learnings to design a genuinely game-changing solution that meets the modern needs for both students and tutors. Philips T-Line is far more than simply another education display being launched into the market. We’ve taken a fresh look to address the historical obstacles and barriers faced by tens of thousands of students and tutors around the world, head-on. The result is a solution that brings classrooms together like never before to create a highly collaborative and safe environment where students are encouraged to have their voices heard and no one is ever left behind.”

We’re All in This Together

Advancing PPDS’ close working relationship with Google, all Philips T-Line displays run on the latest available Android OS, providing almost universal familiarity for users, ensuring lessons are started on time with minimal distraction.

Mounted tightly to the wall like a traditional whiteboard or blackboard, T-Line displays combine all the features and functionality of a traditional interactive display, but with T-Line, students are actively encouraged to participate and collaborate during lessons through a variety of means.

Each display features true multi-touch interaction, as well as high-speed technology and optimized glass coating to deliver a high-class writing experience, allowing multiple students to physically interact with the display simultaneously, using either their hands, or, for more accurate detail, a multi-tip passive stylus—included in the box. The displays can also connect with a keyboard and mouse and have the functionality to support Active Pen technology.

Ensuring students always have the best view of the screen, T-line—running from a secure wireless connection—allows up to sixty-four people to connect their own personal computing device directly to the display at the same time, while work on up to four students’ devices can be shared onto the display at any one time.

Supporting all major operating systems, including ChromeOS, macOS, Windows, Android and iOS, students can contribute to lessons—viewing, working with and manipulating a document without ever leaving their seat.

Involvement Evolvement
Classroom
Each display features true multi-touch interaction, as well as high-speed technology and optimized glass coating to deliver a high-class writing experience, allowing multiple students to physically interact with the display simultaneously, using either their hands, or, for more accurate detail, a multi-tip passive stylus included in the box.

Note taking can be a necessary distraction for students, running the risk of missing important details and forcing students to adopt a head down, silent approach. It’s widely acknowledged that only 20 percent of information is retained after initial memorization. Without review, 47 percent of learned information is lost after only 20 minutes. After one day, 62 percent of learned information is lost without review.

With Philips T-Line, all documents displayed and work carried out can be saved and can then be shared via third party email apps, or stored in the cloud, ensuring students never miss a thing, while also being kinder to the environment by reducing paper waste.

With additional accessories, such as audio soundbars and cameras, and supporting programs such as Zoom, the new Philips T-Line combines all the functionality of a high-end video conferencing system, opening untold opportunities for further learning and interactions.

“Character development, collaborative learning and creative thinking are all essential ingredients for any educational environment,” said King. “Students should feel empowered and involved—therefore collaboration between tutors and students should be seamless, encouraged and demanded.

“At PPDS, we believe that interactive displays like the Philips T-Line hold the key to providing the simplest, most effective and most inclusive solution, offering people the opportunity to absorb information in multiple formats, such as audio, pictures and video, and ensuring classes remain a hive of creative activity. We’re delighted to launch our Philips T-Line displays to our partners in North America and help inspire generations by creating a classroom fit for the future that revels in learning.”

Philips T-Line: At a Glance

Enhanced lessons. Inspire your students with engaging lessons that bring your curriculum to life. Connect to social and web-based applications to pull live feeds, data and mixed media for a classroom that’s filled with rigorous content suitable for all levels of education.

Powered by Android. With built-in Android SoC, Philips displays are fast, versatile and easy to navigate. Optimized for native Android apps, you can install these directly from PPDS’ CMND app store, giving you access to the latest educational sources and more. Regular updates ensure your apps stay up-to-date and compliant as features and the security protocols requirements evolve.

Interactive whiteboard. Inspire creative collaboration in the classroom with whiteboard mode. Simply activate this feature to turn your display into a blank canvas that can be drawn on by hand or using dedicated display styluses by multiple people in the room. Everything on screen can then be sent digitally for easy printing or file sharing between teachers and students.

Always up to date. Place your educational facility ahead of your competition with real-world applications in the classroom. The Philips T-Line has been designed for intuitive functionality that combines everyday digital experiences with the latest educational practices. A fully updateable software suite and customizable functions ensure better lessons for years to come.

Multi-touch technology. Hands-on learning is a powerful way to create memorable lessons that keep students engaged. With twenty touchpoints, the Philips T-Line is perfect for collaborative and competitive interactive experiences that combine visual, audio, and kinaesthetic content. This powerful display is also enabled with a USB connector for true plug-and-play operation.

—Press Release