• Colombian and Polish elementary students connected in an interactive, multicultural activity using Samsung Smart School solutions
• The initiative was planned by Samsung Electronics’ employees in Colombia and Poland to offer an opportunity to broaden learning horizons in the wake of a global sporting event

Olsztyn, Poland and Bogotá, Colombia are nearly 10,000 kilometers apart. When the school day begins in Colombia, it’s time for students in Poland to go home. But on June 7, a class of elementary school students from each city adjusted their schedules to meet with their counterparts from the other side of the world. Using Samsung’s Smart School solutions, the children connected to share a classroom that fused technology into education.

Students from the San Francisco de Asis Educational Institution (Colombia) and Olsztyn elementary school (Poland) introduce each other using Samsung Smart School solutions

Capitalizing on Opportunities to Share Learning Experiences

As a preamble to one of the most popular sports events worldwide, employees from Samsung Electronics Colombia and Samsung Electronics Poland got a hold of each other and agreed to take this opportunity to broaden the horizon of their Smart School initiatives. Soon, they were able to gather elementary school students from the San Francisco de Asis Educational Institution (Colombia) and their peers from the Olsztyn Elementary School (Poland) to take part in a unique multicultural experience.

Each team of students wore T-shirts in national colors

“The goal of Smart School is to transform education through the use of technology,” said Cesar Muñoz, Senior Manager of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung Electronics Colombia. “At this moment there is much attention with the sports event that is happening and kids find it interesting to connect with their peers from Poland. With this, we demonstrate them that technology opens up all kinds of possibilities and that there are no barriers.”

There had been much interest in each other’s country as Colombia and Poland were set to play each other in an upcoming sports event

Learning about Each Other’s Country

Class began with the greetings and introductions from each side, followed by a virtual tour of the Smart School classrooms and shows of some cultural performances – one of the Colombian students performed a traditional dance to the music played on the harp by her teacher; Polish children shared a song of their own.

“Let’s talk about our countries!” Students from Poland line up to present their drawings

They then proceeded to learn about each other’s country including where they are, what their customs are and also a little bit about Nicolaus Copernicus, the famous Polish astronomer. At the end of the class, students from each side of the Atlantic had even learned a number of words from each other’s language like ‘friendship’ (amistad, Spanish) and ‘goodbye’ (do widzenia, Polish). With tablets and virtual quiz tools, the children were given a chance to check their knowledge on Colombia and Poland.

A Colombian student prepares to perform before her Polish friends across the Atlantic

Expanding the Horizon of Learning

Maria Paula Castillo, a student at the San Francisco de Asis School, shared her excitement saying: “We were very excited to get to know the children of Poland. I had never had the opportunity to talk to someone from another country.”

Colombian elementary school students were excited to meet their Polish peers

“Meetings like this expand horizons, showing that we are similar despite our differences,” said Jolanta Okuniewska, a 2016 finalist of the Global Teacher Prize and leader of the Smart School in Olsztyn, Poland. “They stimulate students’ curiosity in cognitive terms, giving them an example of how important it is to know foreign languages and showing them that anything is possible. I am very happy that my students were able to go on this fascinating journey to Colombia.”

Additional Images

Performance for peers in Colombia – dancing and singing break every barrier

“We were very excited to get to know the children of Poland,” said one of the students at the San Francisco de Asis Educational Institution

With tablets and virtual quiz tools, the children were given a chance to check their knowledge on Colombia and Poland

Samsung Electronics announced “10 Minute Break,” a groundbreaking experiential marketing campaign designed to demonstrate how Samsung’s line of accessories for Galaxy devices can offer a unique break from people’s hectic daily lives. The campaign will provide consumers with an immersive product experience aboard double-decker buses outfitted with Samsung’s flagship accessories in Europe.

“We are thrilled to provide consumers across Europe with a unique mobile experience in an immersive and entertaining setting,” said Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT & Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “Through our ‘10 Minute Break’ campaign, consumers will be able to unlock fun and engaging moments with Samsung’s newest mobile accessories.”

The bus routes include stops at landmarks and city centers across Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. The campaign begins on October 27 and lasts through December 6.

The double-decker bus has been designed to create a relaxing environment to allow consumers to fully enjoy a break from their busy lives. When consumers arrive at the bus, they can take a “lifestyle quiz” on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 to determine their own curated product experience among three lifestyle designations that include “Entrepreneur,” “Style Icon,” and “Pioneer.” Once consumers receive their bus ticket, they will be guided through a hands-on experience at the product showcase area based on their chosen lifestyle. The showcase features the Samsung Fast Charge Wireless Chargers and Battery Packs, LEVEL Audio products, Brand collaboration cases and the Gear S2.

Consumers will also be treated to wireless charging at the Power Bar, and be able to enjoy a refreshing juice. A unique audio and visual experience in the LEVEL Theatre will also allow consumers to further enjoy the high quality sound music using LEVEL headphones.

Consumers can follow the campaign through its duration with the #10minBreak hashtag on Twitter.

Destinations include as below.

The European Coding Initiative will play a central role in a number of Europe-wide projects to promote the education of coding and computational thinking, including EU Code Week.

To mark the partnership with the European Coding Initiative, Samsung hosted a demonstration class at EU Code Week’s All You Need Is Code event in Brussels on October 12. Children from the Coding Masters program in Poland were on hand to present a class and show the adults how it’s done!

Sangwoo Kim, President of Corporate Affairs for Samsung Electronics Europe said, “Our vision is a world where digital making is a basic skill for every young person in Europe, along with math and literacy. We live in an increasingly digital world, and teachers and schools need to be equipped to support the transition to a connected society. We want to give young people the opportunity to be creative and to experience the joy of digital making through coding, robotics, electronics and app development.  With confidence, the new generation can become creators of the digital world, not just consumers of it.”

Here is an overview of Samsung’s activities during EU Code Week:

• Germany: On October 10, the winning projects of the Code Week Award were broadcast to the main opening event for Code Week in Berlin. Samsung Electronics GmbH and Gesche Joost, EU Digital Champion, initiated the Code Week Award, a prize honoring the motto “Every Week is Code Week.” As part of the competition, 700 young people in eight different cities participated in workshops and hackathons.
• U.K.: Samsung will be opening its fifth Code Club Hub in the U.K., offering free after-school coding clubs for children at community centers in need of technology support. Samsung has been a partner of the Code Club since 2013, also supporting the recruitment and training of volunteers to help sustain these free provisions.
• Italy: Samsung Italy is hosting coding lessons at the Samsung Smart Area in Milan. On Tuesday, October 13, the results of research managed by Cattolica University of Milan on the impact of coding on students and teachers were revealed. For anyone planning to visit the Milan Expo 2015, Samsung will offer coding lessons at the Samsung TIM open space.
• Poland: Samsung Poland is supporting the Polish edition of Code Week as a main partner and is organizing nearly 500 events connected to the Coding Masters program across Poland. The official opening of Code Week Poland took place in the National Audiovisual Institute. Samsung also supported the organization of the Coders’ Picnic at the Copernicus Science Center.
• Norway: Samsung is a partner of Laer Kidsa Koding and its 50 code clubs will have events throughout Code Week, including a robot workshop at the University of Oslo, Code Club at Tekna in Oslo, Girls Coding Day and an Edtech day for teachers.
• Finland: MehackIT is publishing blog posts of interviews with students in Lahti schools in Finland. The blog posts share experiences from students taking MehackIT coding, robotics and electronics classes.
• France: On October 14, Samsung employees ran two workshops, which both hosted 25 children to introduce them to coding.  Samsung France launched Campus Junior, a free online coding course for children between 7-13 years old, in May 2015.

Stay tuned for more stories from Samsung about coding.

For general updates, follow @NeedCodeEU.

Samsung Electronics Poland, in partnership with Migam, an online sign language interpretation service, has prepared an online customer service center for people with hearing impairments, enhancing their opportunities and their access to digital technologies.

Thanks to cooperative efforts with Migam, Samsung Electronics’ hearing-impaired customers in Poland are now able to use the local customer service center, both through the video chat service on the samsung.pl website and by using a special mobile application. The application has been available since Sept. 21 as a video chat and mobile app.

“The partnership with Migam.org will help us break the contact barrier in providing service to our hearing-impaired customers. Through the ‘Pomagamy Migiem’ [‘We help to sign quickly’] campaign we want to help our customers save time and solve their problems,” said Magdalena Olborska, CSV and Partnership Manager of Samsung Electronics Poland.

Samsung also prepared 45-second instructional spots, in which a dedicated sign-language interpreter explains how to use the video chat and mobile application functions. In addition, several service outlets have been designated as having sign-language capable agents for handling problems.

“We are glad for the road we have been taking since December 2013, when we began focusing on enabling people with hearing disabilities to handle their problems conveniently with the assistance of sign-language interpreters,” said Sławomir Łuczywek, Director of Migam. “Samsung, as a company whose devices are used by millions of Poles, both those who hear well and those who are hearing-impaired, is simply being considerate of the latter group. Thanks to our close cooperation, we have developed actions and plans to help people with hearing disabilities handle their problems just like people with hearing do.”

Cooperating with Migam is one of many solutions planned by Samsung as part of its accessibility policy. Changes are also being introduced at the company’s brand stores to make them more accessible, and employees there are getting additional training. The first of the new Samsung stories is slated to open in early October at Arkadia Shopping Centre in Warsaw, and by the end of the year there will be three more: in Bydgoszcz, Wrocław and Kielce.

Samsung places a high priority on ensuring its state-of-the-art technologies are accessible for people with disabilities. The Galaxy S6 smartphone, for example, offers sound detectors for hearing-impaired people, while those with visual impairments can adjust the color and use voice labels. In addition, people with mobility impairments may control some phone functions with gestures, such as the “Gesture wake up” feature, which turns on a screen without requiring to user push any buttons. In addition to making its products convenient and usable for all, Samsung is also working to make its corporate websites more accessible.