Education

Education creates opportunity and unleashes human potential. It drives personal achievement, seeds groundbreaking ideas, and fuels economic prosperity for individuals, communities, and countries. In addition to reflecting our core values and longstanding commitment to global citizenship, HP's focus on education is strategic to our business, both today and over the long term.

Innovation is the lifeblood of our company, and of our customers and partners. HP is helping develop the next generation of innovators, business leaders, and skilled workers by promoting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. There's a global need for strong STEM education programs. Only 1.3% of 15 year olds reached the highest proficiency level in science during an international test measuring student knowledge.¹ In the United States, most of the fastest-growing occupations in the next decade will require a solid background in STEM education.² And a survey of U.K. employers shows that half are concerned they won't be able to fill future jobs requiring STEM skills.³

By applying technology in creative ways to extend and enrich teaching and learning, we are helping the next generation of leaders, innovators, and workers develop the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the global economy.

HP Catalyst Initiative

In 2010, HP launched the Catalyst Initiative to build a global network of education experts who explore new approaches to STEM education. The network uses an interdisciplinary approach and emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and cross-cultural expertise. Our goal is to transform STEM teaching and learning, and inspire students to use their technical and creative ingenuity to address urgent social challenges.

HP selects network members through a competitive call for proposals open to educational institutions, including schools, universities, and nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations.

In 2010, HP selected 30 organizations from 11 countries to join five international HP Catalyst Initiative network consortia in exploring ways to transform STEM education. Each consortium receives HP technology, cash, and professional support. Funding provided to the consortia by HP in 2010 totaled more than $6 million USD.

The 2010 Catalyst Initiative consortia are:

•  Multi-Versity consortium, led by the Sloan Consortium  (United States)
•  Pedagogy 3.0 consortium, led by Futurelab  (UK)
•  Global Collaboratory consortium, led by CSIR Meraka Institute  (South Africa)
•  The New Learner consortium, led by Agastya International Foundation  (India)
•  Measuring Learning consortium, led by Carnegie Mellon University  (United States)

Learn more about the HP Catalyst Initiative.

National Lab Network

Launched in 2010, National Lab Network (NLN)  is a U.S. initiative to build local communities of volunteers, students, and educators in support of STEM education. The program matches professionals working in STEM-related careers with educators who want to implement hands-on learning experiences inside and outside their classrooms.

To support NLN's goal of reaching one million students, HP began a year-long program in 2010 to encourage skilled volunteerism in schools from its U.S. employees and retirees. HP complements these efforts with technology and cash awards, and provides pro bono services⁴ to NLN for program analytics and measurement.

DonorsChoose.org

This year, in association with NLN, HP supported DonorsChoose.org , an online marketplace that matches funding requests from teachers with donors committed to improving public education.

• Double Your Impact Through this program, donors can give to a classroom requesting HP products. Once donors fund half of the request, HP contributes the other half. In 2010, 1920 projects were funded, including $400,000 USD contributed from HP. The program engaged almost 6,000 individual donors, benefiting more than 223,000 students.
• GivingCards In 2010, HP allocated $200,000 USD in DonorsChoose GivingCards to customers and employees who could then use the cards to support the classroom project of their choice.
• Technology Also in 2010, we awarded $150,000 USD worth of HP products to the DonorsChoose.org staff.

HP EdTech Innovators Award

Effective integration of technology into classrooms provides valuable learning opportunities for students entering a knowledge-based economy. Yet many schools and universities are struggling to keep pace with the rapid advance of information technology (IT).

In partnership with the New Media Consortium , we launched the HP EdTech Innovators Award, and attempted to address this challenge by supporting educators who use technology in creative ways inside and outside the classroom. By showcasing these educators—and helping them share their best practices—HP is helping to accelerate the integration of IT into curricula and teaching.

Winners of the EdTech Innovators Award receive technology valued at approximately $40,000 USD, as well as membership to a social network that includes support, training, and other resources to help educators develop and share their ideas.

Ten institutions globally received HP EdTech Innovators Awards in 2010.

1. ¹ As cited in OECD (2007). PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World Executive Summary. Available at   http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/13/39725224.pdf .
2. ² U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,   www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_103.htm .
3. ³ University World News,   www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20100521153534898 .
4. ⁴ Pro bono: Contributed without compensation and for the public good.