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News Release

September 12, 2012
Hitachi Solutions

Hitachi Solutions Releases Software to Support Collaborative Learning
Using Tablets and Interactive Whiteboards

StarBoard Student Tablet Software provides an environment for students to help each other learn

TOKYO, September 12, 2012 - Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. today announced the release of StarBoard Student Tablet Software to support students' collaborative learning using tablet devices and interactive whiteboards. Aimed at schools which provide primary or secondary education, the new software is available in four languages-Japanese, English, Chinese, and Turkish. The software will be released on October 1, 2012.

StarBoard Student Tablet Software supports collaborative learning among students by enabling students to link their tablet devices (iPads, Android devices, and Windows tablet PCs) with an interactive whiteboard and the teacher's computer. This facilitates efficient group learning, since students are able to share what they have written on their own tablets on the interactive whiteboard during presentations or discussions.

Today's educational settings demand solutions that maximize the possibilities of information and communication technology (ICT) to enable students to learn from each other more effectively. Tablet devices are particularly easy to use for writing and other tasks, and their small size makes them convenient to use. This makes tablet devices ideal for group learning as well as for individual learning, and offers broad possibilities for education.

StarBoard Student Tablet Software connects students' tablet devices with an interactive whiteboard and the teacher's computer, enabling the teacher to send content from the interactive whiteboard or his or her computer to the students' tablet devices. Students can then write in their answers in freehand or express their thoughts or opinions via the tablet devices. The software also facilitates collaborative learning during group assignments: students can work together via their tablet devices using shared content. It also allows more than one student at once to present content from their tablets on the interactive whiteboard, facilitating class discussion.

The new software can easily be adopted by schools and reduces the burden for teachers by supporting a variety of tablet devices and interactive whiteboards, while offering simplicity and ease-of-use without having to install applications on tablet devices. With the software, content can be sent and returned with a single touch.

It can also be used together with StarBoard interactive whiteboards from Hitachi Solutions to teach lessons more effectively, taking advantage of proprietary StarBoard features such as Intelli-Pen, automatic conversion of freehand shapes into geometric objects, and conversion of handwriting into text.

Hitachi Solutions will continue to develop and offer global learning solutions that maximize the possibilities of ICT such as StarBoard Student Tablet Software and StarBoard. These solutions will facilitate lecture-based learning through group instruction, individualized learning tailored to the skills and talents of each student, and collaborative learning whereby students help each other learn.

Main features of StarBoard Student Tablet Software

1. Enabling students to learn from each other more effectively

StarBoard Student Tablet Software provides an environment where students can help each other learn using content that is distributed to their individual tablets, fostering skills such as information management, self-expression, and comprehension. Answers that students write on their tablets can be displayed on an interactive whiteboard to share ideas and knowledge with the rest of the class, helping to encourage an awareness of other ideas.

2. Simplicity and one-touch operation

StarBoard Student Tablet Software enables teachers to send photographs, images, and handwritten data on their computers or interactive whiteboards to students' tablet devices with a single touch, allowing students to magnify data on their own devices to check details that may be difficult to see otherwise. The software also supports a variety of tablet devices including the iPad, Android devices, and Windows tablet PCs, for seamless use in environments with mixed devices. When used together with StarBoard, the software takes advantage of proprietary StarBoard features such as connectivity with Document Camera and Intelli-Pen, and conversion of freehand shapes into geometric objects.

3. Better grasp of students' learning process

The software enables teachers to save students' answers at any time, allowing them to compare data taken at different stages in the learning process, for example, elucidating initial mistakes but also the corrections the students have made.

Main Features of StarBoard Student Tablet Software

Features Description
Publish Send photographs, images, and handwritten data displayed on an interactive whiteboard or saved on the teacher's computer to tablet devices
Answer Write down or type in answers on the data sent to the tablet device
Save Save answers that were sent or collected from tablet devices
Compare Compare answers that were sent or collected from tablet devices

Operating Environment for Starboard Student Tablet Software

Supported student tablet devices1 iPad (iOS 5), Android devices (Android 4.0.3), Windows tablet PCs (Windows 7 32-bit Service Pack 1)
Browsers: Safari for iPad, Firefox 15 for Android devices, Google Chrome 21 and Internet Explorer 9 for Windows tablet PCs
Networks IEEE 802.11a/g/n wireless LAN

1 : Contact Hitachi Solutions for specifics about operating environments.

Release date

October 1, 2012

About StarBoard

Contact:

Public Relations & Advertisements Department
Corporate Brand & Communications Division
E-mail: inquiry@hitachi-solutions.com

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, provides value-driven services throughout the IT life cycle from systems planning to systems integration, operation and maintenance. Hitachi Solutions delivers products and services of superior value to customers worldwide through key subsidiaries in China, the United States and Europe. The flagship company in the Hitachi Group's information and communication system solutions business, Hitachi Solutions also offers solutions for social innovation such as smart cities. For more information on Hitachi Solutions, please visit: http://www.hitachi-solutions.com.

*Company names and product names are the registered trademarks and/or trademarks of the respective companies.

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