Oulu Business - Teenagers Test NFC Technology with Nokia 6131 NFC Cell Phone in a School Environment

An important technology pilot project was started on September 4 at Laanila Secondary School in Oulu, where NFC technology is being tested in a school environment.

In this school-world pilot project, NFC technology is being harnessed to serve educational purposes, help students, and promote self-learning. All eight-graders (14-15-year-olds), a total of some 120 students, will receive a Nokia 6131 NFC cell phone for the duration of the 6-week pilot program, which is part of the City of Oulu's SmartTouch project. In the pilot program, students will use the phones to receive updated schedules with changes to class locations and times, homework and associated instructions, and multimedia content they have made at school, including school news and events. To do this, they take their handsets and touch a tag on special posters (named 'Viksu', meaning 'sharp') located at the school and the students' homes. The NFC handset is also a remote control for a giant display at the school. School bulletins, news, videos, and other content will be available to students at home on a mobile display and on the giant display. VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Faculty of Education and the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the University of Oulu will study the relationship between the NFC technology and learning. The results will be applied, for example, at Oulu's Ritaharju school, which will be completed in two years.