Qualcomm Education-as-a-service: Transforming the Digital and Hybrid Classroom and Campus Experience

We’re in the midst of an educational revolution. Many schools and universities are shifting from traditional classrooms to a combination of remote study and hybrid learning. Qualcomm Technologies’ customized Education-as-a-Service (EaaS) IoT platform offers educators a new way of thinking about the role technology can play not only in the classroom but on campuses too.

Qualcomm EaaS is a single integrated solution built to transform the digital and hybrid classroom and campus experience through a fully integrated suite of hardware and software services enabled by broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity, edge computing, AI, and cloud technology. The result is blended, personalized learning in the classroom as well as campus control through digital transformational services.

All students deserve equitable educational opportunities, so EaaS is designed to be inclusive as well. Qualcomm Technologies is working with companies like OneScreen and HoverCam to bring smart classrooms and hybrid learning settings to U.S. school districts. Bundling our leading-edge technology with our partners’ EdTech expertise, within one subscription service, avoids the funding bottlenecks that prevent students from receiving necessary services. It also ensures that schools get a hardware/software refresh every three years, technical training, and a wider audience for classroom sessions.

Let’s imagine the future of EaaS, open to students regardless of distance, safer from health and safety risks, and more accessible to learners with diverse needs.

The smart campus: Enhanced safety and campus-wide connectivity with AI and machine learning

You’re a sixth-grade student at a public school, ready to greet your friends for the first day of school. Your mom drives into the school’s campus and drops you off at the entrance. You wait briefly while a camera identifies you and a scanner checks you for signs of fever. The doors open automatically. As you enter, you get a text reminding you to put on a mask. You slip your mask on and enter your homeroom, stopping to wave to your best friend, who is studying remotely. You take a seat with the other students and catch up with them, too.

How it Works: Intelligent cameras, powered by the Qualcomm QCS605 IoT System-on-Chip (SoC), monitor the campus and send alerts for issues related to crowd assessment, intrusion detection, and forgotten objects. As students, teachers, and visitors arrive, a Qualcomm Technologies APQ8053 enabled OneScreen GoSafe device scans for signs of fever, detects the presence of face masks, and integrates with automatic doors. Using the Qualcomm AI Engine for high-performance edge computing, GoSafe automatically grants or denies access as well as sends notifications about things like face masks or social distancing rules. The classroom video camera, with a QCS605 SoC that’s engineered to deliver powerful computing for on-device camera processing and machine learning, automatically takes roll call and records the day’s lesson. The 55-inch connected classroom smart screen with a Qualcomm SC8120, which supports immersive graphics performance and hardware acceleration for advanced real-time video formats, brings the images of remote students into the classroom, offering a sense of class unity.

Fully connected classroom with Qualcomm Technologies powered devices

After automated attendance-taking, your teacher starts the lesson, walking around the room and reading a poem, which he shares on the whiteboard. He then shows a video about the poet to the whole class, both remote and in-class. Although you’re initially nervous when you hear it’s time for a math placement test, you breathe a sigh of relief when you get a text message informing you that your test will be untimed due to your learning challenges in math.

How it Works: Automated tools using Qualcomm Technologies powered AI cameras take virtual and in-class attendance, storing the data for predictive analytics, which are used to provide students with personalized assistance, such as extra time on tests. At a dedicated mobile workspace, teachers use a HoverCam Pilot S digital podium, powered by Qualcomm SC8120, which supports a tablet computer, wireless 4K HDMI connectivity, embedded microphone, and a foldout document camera. The podium works in tandem with a OneScreen interactive smart screen and a built-in distance learning app for easy access to online students. The teacher can also pick up the tablet from the podium, still connected to the smart screen, and move about the room to check on the students in the room. Instructors can share a wealth of multimedia learning aids, retrievable through a digital content management system.

Collaborative hybrid learning made easy

Your teacher assigns a science experiment and allows you to work with your best friend, who is remote today. Awesome! You both love science and take turns doing the experiment and showing your progress via the cameras on your laptops. Your teacher sends you a joint assessment with comments, giving you both a 95. As class ends, you forward a class recording to a friend who is on vacation, so he can stay up with studies.

How it works: Students use touchscreen notebooks, which are powered by the Snapdragon 7c Compute Platform. With multi-day battery life on a single charge and 4G/5G connectivity, these ultra-portable laptops are ideal for classwork and homework. Students can use multiple cameras so the teacher can see live action. In-class and remote students can also see, hear, and collaborate with each other via the laptop, smart board, and cloud apps. Teachers mark, correct, and annotate joint student work, offering a complete class experience, regardless of physical proximity. All classes are recorded automatically, so that those who miss a session can easily keep up.

The future of educational technology starts now

As schools and universities continue to adapt to societal changes, Qualcomm Technologies is taking technical complexity out of the equation. We’re perfecting a value-add services portfolio that’s plug and play, with a special focus on end-to-end security from silicon to solution. Working with our partners, the Qualcomm EaaS solution is proving that we no longer must imagine the classrooms and campus of the future. The time has come for reliable, safe, and scalable smart connected learning.

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