One of the world’s largest distance learning institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA) is now using Freedom Toasters to provide students with course-related resources.
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is one of the world’s largest distance-learning universities and is now using Freedom Toasters from Breadbin Interactive, rebranded as ‘UNISA Toasters’, to provide students with content for their courses.
The Freedom Toaster is an innovative content delivery kiosk that allows users to choose and burn relevant content onto CDs, DVDs or USB flash drives using an easy touch screen interface. The Freedom Toaster uses a customised open source operating system that allows the kiosks to burn multiple disks at once.
Thanks to the open source nature of the Freedom Toaster, UNISA has been able to customise the platform for its own requirements. Students using the UNISA Toasters simply punch their student numbers onto the touch screen interface which then displays their registered course list in digital format. The student chooses the course material he requires and then burns it onto CD, DVD or USB flash drive.
There is a global trend towards providing students with digital courseware at universities,” says Louise Schmidt, head of Electronic and Web Communication at UNISA. “However, in Africa this is limited by the digital divide and challenges in terms of connectivity. The UNISA Toaster helps us to bridge the divide and provide digital content to students who do not necessarily have Internet access, or enough bandwidth available to download resources.”
UNISA piloted the project in 2007,” she continues. “Our initial plan was to gauge the interest of students to receive digital material. The pilot was a success and we decided to expand the project. We are now launching it at all registration centres in order to assist students to have their study material immediately upon registration, saving them having to wait for material to arrive via conventional mail.”
Schmidt says that the Toaster is robust and user friendly and fits perfectly into the UNISA environment.
We ordered 30 Toasters and are busy rolling them out to all of our offices nationwide,” she adds.
Says Brett Simpson, managing director of Breadbin Interactive, “UNISA has done amazing work with its Toasters and is leading the way in terms of digital courseware and general content distribution at universities. They have shown some out-of-the-box thinking on what can be done with the Toaster’s platform.”
UNISA is busy installing the initial 30 Toasters and has ordered another 31 units from Breadbin Interactive.
We’re proud to see the Toaster being used as an effective solution for education,” says Simpson. “And we look forward to working with UNISA in the future.”
