Air-Quality in Classrooms is Important for a Healthier Learning Process

EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands – November 3, 2020 –The second wave of the Corona crisis is roaring across Europe and political leaders are attempting to avoid lockdowns. Many schools and universities are struggling with the question of safety regarding physical classes, as aerosols spread quickly throughout closed spaces like classrooms. The WHO states that especially rooms with poor ventilation run a high risk. 

Apart from that, classrooms with not enough fresh air can provoke headaches, sleepiness and loss of concentration, making students less engaged and making it harder to memorize learning material. That is why now more than ever, it is highly recommended for schools and universities to have the tools to continuously monitor air quality inside each room in order to be able to implement adequate counter measures such as opening windows or taking a break.

“Our smart Interactive Flat Panel comes equipped with features helping to keep students learning in a healthy environment”, says Steve Chu, President of BenQ Europe. BenQ is a world-leading human technology and solutions provider aiming to elevate and enrich every aspect of consumers’ lives. “Especially in these challenging times it is essential to have information about the air quality in classrooms at hand. 

The supply of fresh air helps reduce the aerosol spread in the room air and at the same time ensures that the ability of students to concentrate is maintained.”

Interactive displays replace conventional whiteboards

BenQ education interactive displays in the RP series replace conventional whiteboards and enable a new way of interactive and collaborative classroom scenarios. Equipped with relevant features, it streamlines discussions by making it smoother than ever for teachers and students to share ideas, notes and opinions as they are annotating on the same whiteboard regardless of where they are.

On top of that, BenQ RP02 series has other interesting features that come in handy during this COVID-19 crisis such as an Air-Quality Sensor measuring not only room temperature and humidity, but also the CO2 concentration and PM2.5 and PM10 atmospheric aerosol particles that can be harmful to both students and teachers. A handy widget on the screen is helping teachers to keep an eye on the measured values in the room with easy to understand colours so they can open a door or window immediately when necessary.

“Fresh air in classrooms essential” 

“Fresh air in classrooms is not only essential to be able to concentrate, exposure to air pollution can lead to adverse health effects”, says Chu. “BenQ helps reshape classroom technology by safeguarding health and offering interactive tools students and teachers love to use. Smart tools such as our Air-Quality Sensor create awareness at all times and help people take the right action to warrant overall health. That is why we emphasize the health and hygiene features of our products, not only during this ‘new normal’, but we have since 2012 which resulted in the all-encompassing ClassroomCare^®.”

Another major health feature available in BenQ Interactive Flat Panels is Eye-Care. Embedded sensors activate the smart Eye-Care solution when the situation requires it, providing low blue light and a flicker-free experience. The screen is layered with a non-toxic germ-resistant coating with ionic silver that kills most bacteria on contact to prevent cross-infection in classrooms.

Sharing ideas, notes and opinions is easier than ever

Thanks to the cross-platform solution EZWrite, students can easily save files to their personal cloud storage and then access them in a classroom. With EZWrite’s Floating Tool, teachers can capture screenshots of anything on the screen, including content from apps, websites, and videos from any source. They can then import this content for further discussion and annotation on a brand new page. To meet the rapidly growing demands for effective distance learning, EZWrite is now also available as a cloud whiteboard solution with embedded videoconferencing, named EZWrite Live.

A reliable, integrated alternative to traditional classroom messaging systems, X-Sign Broadcast allows administrators to broadcast messages including evacuation and emergency alerts to all screens in the school, a selected group or even to a single classroom. 

Science is finding out more about the Corona virus every day, but it will still be part of our lives for quite some time. The basic rules remain the most effective in fighting the pandemic; social distancing, wearing a protective mask and washing your hands and monitoring air quality and ventilate regularly.

To find out more about BenQ Education IFP, please visit https://www.benq.eu/en-eu/business/ifp/education.html.