The Classroom of the Future project was joined, after several primary schools and grammar schools all over Croatia, by the first hospital school. Today, classrooms were opened at the Zagreb Children's Hospital in Klaićeva Street 16 and at the Institute for Hematology and Oncology "Dr. Mladen Ćepulić" in Ilica 197. The project is a joint endeavour of the Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet) and the company Samsung Electronics, with the technical assistance of the company Storm Computers.
"This valuable donation is of great significance because not only did we "bring" the school to the children in hospital, but we can also bring the schools and classes virtually to the children so they can at least occasionally follow classes with their colleagues. This way, we are sending a strong message to ill children, even those who are severely ill, that we expect them to get better and to return to their home schools with ease", pointed out prof. Zoran Bahtijarević, acting Director of the Zagreb Children's Hospital.
This project will enable interactive learning with the support of the latest information technologies for all students that are hospitalised long-term, both at the paediatrics clinic and at the paediatric oncology department. These classrooms are the very first of their kind, and are aimed at helping ill children in overcoming everyday obstacles and sense of isolation. The classes will be taught by teachers from the Izidor Kršnjavi primary school in Zagreb. It should be pointed out that every year about 1,500 students attend the school in the Zagreb Children's Hospital.
"I am thrilled that CARNet, in cooperation with Samsung, has the opportunity to provide support to students in hospital treatment and to allow them to follow classes while in treatment. The abrupt change in their everyday way life is most certainly traumatic for children who are hospitalized, but thanks to the use of technology, the children will have the chance to follow their classes in real-time, remain connected with their friends and teachers from their home schools and to maintain continuity in their studies. The greatest success of this project will be to see the smile on the children's faces, and I hope this new interesting approach to learning will make their stay in hospital a bit easier", said Zvonimir Stanić, acting Director of the Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet).
The school will make efforts to continuously develop cooperation with the home schools of the students while they are in hospital treatment using state-of-the-art technology. Importantly, this hospital school is the first of 12 hospital schools in the Republic of Croatia to have adopted the e-Class Register, thus achieving a much faster and better cooperation with the home schools. Tablets will be used as a teaching aid and owing to video-links, distance learning and connections with schools throughout Croatia will be enabled.
