Increased Mobility with Windows Device Empowers Students with Improved Access to Collaborative Learning

Launched in 2008 as the online program of the BINA NUSANTARA Group, BINUS Online Learning is the first institution recognized by the Indonesian government to provide online learning in the degree programs. The online learning program counts business owners, entrepreneurs, athletes and other professionals as among its 2,500 students, who are located in 11 cities around the archipelago and nine countries globally.

Business Needs

With a diverse background and geography, mobility is a key requirement for students. “We utilize a hybrid method of study,” says Agus Putranto, Deputy Director of BINUS Online Learning at BINUS University. “Students are only required to attend traditional classes twice during the semester, and interact with their instructors and peers online for 10 weeks of remote coursework.”

Access to the educational content and online collaboration is made through the BINUS Online Learning Portal, a web-accessible platform where students can sign up for courses, participate in learning forums, submit coursework and video-conference with their instructors.

Recognizing that not all students have reliable access to mobile computing devices, BINUS Online Learning previously distributed netbook computers as part of its program. However, these came with limitations, particularly in terms of battery life and flexibility. “Netbook batteries would usually last only three hours, which severely limited their usefulness,” says Agus.

Solution

BINUS Online Learning sought a better mobile platform for its students, with reliability, user experience and flexibility in mind. “We require a device and operating system that enhances students’ capability to work and study,” says Ivan Sangkereng, IT Director at BINUS University. Ivan says that in the university’s selection process, which included focus-group discussions among students and instructors, Windows 8.1 was found to have an advantage in terms of user experience and productivity.

The institution chose ASUS Transformer Book T100 as its tablet of choice, because of the flexibility and power it provides. Running Windows 8.1, the T100 is a hybrid between tablet and notebook computer, with a detachable physical keyboard and 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen. With a battery rated at 11 hours of moderate use, the device can last through an entire workday on a single charge.

The ASUS T100 also comes with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 integrated with OneDrive, which enables users to manage and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations through both local and cloud-based applications.

Benefits

With the Asus T100 Windows 8.1 tablet, students gain the ability to access their collaborative and coursework needs throughout the workday without being tethered to a power supply. Windows 8.1 also enables BINUS Online’s IT Directorate to simplify its development environment, with the ability to deploy the same applications without having to resort to porting to different mobile platforms.

Improved mobile user experience.

The Asus T100 is a hybrid device that comes with a keyboard, touchpad and touchscreen. The keyboard can be detached to convert the device into a full-fledged touchscreen-only tablet. “Many of our users are comfortable with a traditional notebook user interface, which involves a keyboard and pointing device,” says Ivan. “With the Asus T100, our students don’t need laptops anymore, because they can work anywhere with the keyboard. When more portability is needed, they can simply detach it and use the T100 as a tablet.”

Increased utility.

Students began to more actively participate in the discussion forums on BINUS Online Learning Platform, which are the program’s “virtual classrooms.” According to Agus, “students used to log in to participate only once a day when they were using netbook computers, but now they are more actively discussing the course material throughout the day.” The increased engagement has resulted in 20% increase in utility of BINUS’ online learning platform.

Enhanced mobility.

Agus credits the enhanced engagement to the longer battery life that the Asus T100 offers over netbook computers. “Our students’ previous netbook batteries only lasted for 3 hours,” he says. “Because the Asus T100 can last up to 11 hours, it enables students to accomplish their coursework and participate in virtual classes anytime, anywhere, without worrying about running out of battery.”

Simplified development environment.

BINUS University is heavily invested in Microsoft solutions, says Ivan, and running Windows 8.1 as a mobile platform for students simplifies the development environment. “Once we develop and deploy applications for Windows PCs, we can also deploy to Windows 8.1 tablets without the need to port to a different platform,” says Ivan.

At present, BINUS Online learning has deployed the hybrid tablets to about 30% of its students, and plans to increase roll-out in the coming semesters along with tiered phasing out of netbooks.

The idea behind online learning is to improve opportunities for everybody to learn, says Agus. “Windows 8.1 gives our students the best user experience for accessing educational content and remotely collaborating with peers and instructors,” he says. “The Asus T100 tablets enable our students to do more and be more productive anytime, anywhere.”

Taken from:

https://customers.microsoft.com/Pages/CustomerStory.aspx?recid=18811