Projects
Classroom Programme
The Classroom programme is Switched On's first initiative - providing effective, low cost classroom IT solutions, primarily in developing nations including Thailand, India and Bolivia. It uses state-of-the-art "thin client" technology to make maintenance easier and allow reuse of old computers. Computer programs include, for example, office applications, graphics and video editing.
This programme achieves huge cost savings through an innovative technology approach. We use Open Source Software, such as Linux and OpenOffice, which are very similar in look, feel and function to popular commercial equivalents. The thin client architecture saves a great deal on the student computer costs. This reduced the cost of the entire system deployed in New Delhi of 16 computers to £5000, a mere 30% of the cost of the traditional approach.
Switched On is helping prepare teaching materials and providing course accreditation to help students find jobs. We are also helping train the the teachers and providing technical administrative support via in-country Internet connections.
Click on the following links to find out more about our projects:
- Thailand - Under-resourced college in Bangkok.
- India - Computer training centre in poor suburb of New Delhi.
- Bolivia - Computer facility for street children's home in Santa Cruz.
We expect to undertake numerous further implementations of the Switched On classroom solution over the coming few years, and so we are constantly refining the system to make it better to use and manage.