Nintendo announces DS Classroom

By Robert Purchese Published 11 June, 2009

For teachers. For the learn.

Nintendo has announced software that allows Japanese schoolteachers to communicate with up to 50 DS handhelds using a PC.

It's called DS Classroom, and it sends pupils' multiple-choice answers from tests or surveys directly to the teacher's screen. Even basic writing and drawing activities are supported, according to Joystiq.

All DS types will work - even pink ones - but schools will need to provide their own hardware.

DS Classroom has only been announced for Japan, where the handheld has been used in schools for a while, albeit without the official help of Nintendo and dedicated software. No word on this for the West, obviously.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DaDon123456 #1 3 years ago

    This doesnt seem to be a bad idea. I hope it works.

  • Eraysor #2 3 years ago

    Good idea, especially when you consider the attach rate of DSes to children. Saves schools buying too much extra equipment.

  • AlvySinger #3 3 years ago

    As a teacher, I love it - though I think more kids have iPhones than DSes (how they afford the contracts will forever be a mystery too me!).

  • MBar #4 3 years ago

    For the learn = FTL = For the lose?

  • nickfernando #5 3 years ago

    Yes! I wrote about and discussed this with the learning technologies group at the uni I used to work at back in 2007/8, and they said yeah right! I always saw the DS and Wii as being great learning and teaching tools for compulsory and even post secondary education.

    I'm sure this news will inspire the people at the new uni I work at as they are way more in to innovation. Thanks for the info EG!!

    Off topic but if any of you have 360's, do you find yourself spending additional time on games to get achievements than you would if the achievement system never existed?

  • YourMessageHere #6 3 years ago

    ...how the hell do you use a DS educationally? Nickfernando, what did you see it being used for? The only use I can think of is for kanji/chinese character practice - at least 3 people I know possess DS hardware primarily as a cheap alternative to a dedicated electronic dictionary. Outside of this, however, I can't imagine how a DS could be better than, you know, actual teaching.

  • woodyrulesok #7 3 years ago

    I think is ridiculous. So the parents of the kids that don't have them are going to be forced to go out and buy one?
    Companies shouldn't be aloud to target children like this, to me it's as bad as them having a mcdonalds in the lunch hall.

    I know they already use DSes in schools here in the UK, my friend is a teacher and at her school they bought the smartest kids some so they could do brain training on it, WTF!!! When some schools can barely afford books others are fucking wasting money on that shit. It makes me so angry, grrrrrrrr

  • LazyDan #8 3 years ago

    I think that's overreacting a bit.

    School's should always try to leverage new technology to engage with kids. And why the hell not? They're not going to force parents to buy DS's - you're being ridiculous. If one teacher decides to make their class DS only, then kids will bring their own, schools will fork out for it, or some kids will simply go without. It's unfortunate, but not all kids have home access to computers or the internet either - does that mean we shouldn't use those in schools?

    If they can introduce something which might just connect with a kid enough to spark an interest or improve their skills in a subject, then it's worth it. And with games like Brain Training/Big Brain Academy, language coaches, health coaches, the book collection, and even more intelligent games like Professor Layton - I can't think of a better gaming platform to exploit for educational purposes than the DS.

  • woodyrulesok #9 3 years ago

    I might be a bit out of touch here but does every student sit down at a computer for any subject other than IT?
    It's fair enough to have a class computer to aid subjects but I don't agree with using a computer, especially a DS, as the main teaching tool and definitely not for young children. I can't see a single benefit for them over pens, paper and books to be honest and if they want to play Professor Layton after school then they are welcome to go nuts.

  • owl #10 3 years ago

    feel the learn.

  • nickfernando #11 3 years ago

    @YourMessageHere. There are loads of ways it can be used, we've been using an SMS based polling system to quiz undergrads in class. The problem there is that the responses are always to MCQs so that doesn't leave a lot of flexibility in querying learners understanding thoroughly. One example of using the DS plus some custom written software (the R4 type cards have good legit uses too) could be where undergrads in a maths bridging course are given partial solutions by the academic and then they are sent over to the udergrads DS for completion. They then get sent back to the system over wifi where a service compares completed undergrad partials to the academics.

    This is all a bit 'blue sky' but for an institution it adds credibility to undertaking an endeavor if somebody else is doing it too. Bear in mind that something like the example that I mentioned would be a big investment of time, expertise and resources. That's why bodies like JISC are there to support innovation in the use of educational technology. At my uni we definitely have the expertise just not the time and resources so that's why we would apply for funding on these things.

  • YourMessageHere #12 3 years ago

    I'm allergic to maths so I can't tell if that's something that actually requires a DS or could be done on any old PC - I suspect simply scribbling on the touch screen is easier than the mental gymnastics required to operate a conventional PC equation editor? Mind you if the answers are checked by machines, does it/ would it still work for handwriting? Multiple choice questions are dead easy on a PC, though, no need for DSs there - what's the rationale behind that?

  • nickfernando #13 3 years ago

    @YourMessageHere you have to bare in mind that maths lectures will usually take place in a lecture theatre so there are no pc's handy to fire up Maple or the like. The rationale is that we need to be able to question and challenge learners in the lecture hall and get them participating in the session. We've used clikapads and sms to do this but the limitation is in the type of question that an MCQ can support in a basic context. MCQs can, when written well, effectively interrogate the learners understanding but that would happen over a series of questions where branching and detailed feedback can be given. You can imagine that this wouldn't make sense in a large class situation and is much better suited to when a learner is in front of a computer and can concentrate solely on the MCQ.