Smarterequips students
with the skills
to succeed

DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTIC AND
CULTURAL STUDIES – UNIVERSITY
OF MODENA AND REGGIO EMILIACUSTOMER STORY
Department chair Prof. Lorenzo Bertucelli, Department vice-chair Prof.
Laura Gavioli, Technical management: Vincenzo Settembrino, MA;
Maria Chiara Ceci, MA.
Founded in 1175, the Universityof Modena and Reggio Emilia(UNIMORE) is one of the mainseats of European learning.
Consistently ranked byinternational organizations as oneof the leading public universities
for teaching and research inItaly, UNIMORE has a communityof over 21,000 students with
780 professors and researchers
working across 14 departmentsin the cities of Modena andReggio Emilia.

Improving student
engagement

Innovation and excellence are theguiding principles for UNIMORE’s
Department of Linguistic andCultural Studies. The Department
offers degree courses andconducts interdisciplinary
research in foreign languages

and linguistics, history andphilosophy, anthropology
and sociology, culture andcommunication, and aims toprovide graduates with the skills
to succeed in the workplace
and to engage critically with thecontemporary world.
Fueled by a national research
grant of EUR 5 million in 2017,
the Department planned tocreate multiple state-of-the-art
language labs and classrooms.
Within the new teachingenvironments, the Department
sought to implement a ‘smart
classroom strategy’ that would
provide students with accessto high-performance laptops
running a uniform set oftranslation, linguistic analytics,
and assessment applications.

Founded in1175

21,000students

HOW UNIMOREADOPTS A CUTTING-EDGE
SMART CLASSROOM STRATEGY
Building on centuries of academic excellence, UNIMORE is developing state-of-the-art
smart classrooms that will provide students with a more engaging and enriching learning
experience. Working with Lenovo, UNIMORE is helping students and professors make themost of every second in the classroom, contributing to greater long-term success.
Vincenzo Settembrino, Technical Administrator at
the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Studies,
UNIMORE, explains: “Previously, students would
bring their laptops to lectures and examinations,each with its own operating system. At the startof the sessions, it would take a long time forstudents to power up their devices, load the rightapplications and learning tools.”
By providing all their students with the samedevices during lectures, the Department staff
observed that they could offer a more consistent,engaging learning experience, and help students
and professors make the most of every second in
the classroom and language lab. Standardization
was perceived to have a positive impact on tests
and examinations, which could be run in a more
efficient and seamless way.

Why Lenovo? Robustness and highperformance

UNIMORE chose Lenovo as the ideal partner
to support its smart classroom strategy. TheDepartment decided to install 250 Lenovo
ThinkPad E590 laptops across its two 90-seatclassrooms and smaller language labs, installing
application such as WordSmith language analysis
tools, as well as the Moodle learning management
environment.
In addition, the Department decided to
implement Lenovo Vantage, an application whichsimplifies device management tasks by enabling
technical administrators to run diagnostics,
perform BIOS and operating system updates, andcheck on the warranty terms for each laptop. The
Department also purchased Lenovo LanSchool
Teacher software, which will allow professors toshare video content and presentations across all
student laptops once fully deployed.
According to the team of experts informing theDepartment purchases, several factors madeLenovo the standout solution, even though othervendors offered lower-price tools. First, their pastexperience with Lenovo laptops and desktops,
and the exceptional value of the products.

In particular, the devices do not have lots ofthird-party software added, which is often tricky
and costly to manage and upgrade.
Second, the Lenovo solutions also aligned wellwith the requirements envisaged. For example,
the robust outer case, spill-resistant keyboard and180-degree opening make them perfectly suitedfor intensive, everyday use by students. Similarly,
the Lenovo laptops offer the high performanceand high-definition [HD] graphics capabilities
that are needed to support the most demanding
interactive learning applications, which rely
heavily on audio-visual components.
Furthermore, the Department is taking fulladvantage of built-in Wake-on-LAN functionality
to power the laptops from a central command
point, which helps to improve energy efficiency.
The solid-state drives (SSDs) and high levels of
RAM minimize latency and application responsetimes, while the HD graphics card optimizes
accessibility of educational content, which isespecially useful for visually
impaired students.

Rapid installation

UNIMORE was on a tight project schedule, andaimed to implement the Lenovo solutions within
one month over the summer break period. To
achieve this, the Department turned to Lenovo
business partner ABS Computers, that managed
the implementation process with the help of
two technicians from the UNIMORE team, andsuccessfully completed the full installation in justfour days.
The implementation was a very smooth andpainless process for UNIMORE. Even when it did
run into challenges, Lenovo provided alternatives
to keep things moving forward, helping to ensure
the solutions would be ready when students
returned. The commitment and expertise of theLenovo team, as well as close collaboration with
the UNIMORE technical team and team of experts,
produced the most successful outcome.

Creating more enrichingexperiences

With the Lenovo solutions in place, UNIMORE
is realizing its vision for a modern, innovative
smart classroom. As soon as students enter theclassroom and language labs, the laptops areready and waiting, eliminating wasted time spent
powering up their devices. As a result, professors
have more time for instruction, while students
enjoy a more productive session.
“We now complete examination periods much
faster, too”, adds a member of the UNIMORE
technical staff. “Previously, students setting up
and loading tests on their devices contributed
to the exam period stretching out over severaldays. With the Lenovo solutions installed, we haveaccelerated the process by 75%, and now finish all
tests within a single day, helping to free our staff
for more valuable activities.”
The Lenovo laptops also enable a greater levelof interaction between students and professors
during lectures, helping to improve everybody’sinvolvement. From the point of view of the users,
lecture sessions are now much more focused andrewarding, as professors know that every student
can see and interact with the same course
materials and learning tools. And the students arehappier, especially as they no longer have to carry
their own device to every lesson.

The Department partnership with
Lenovo has been integral to building
a more innovative and engaging
approach to learning, which bothteaching staff and technical experts
believe will contribute to greater
long-term outcomes for their students.
Looking ahead, UNIMORE is excitedabout finding new opportunities where
it can implement similar smart classroom
strategies—strengthening its position as aleader in the education sector.

“Our partnership with Lenovo has been
integral to building a more innovative andinteractive approach to learning, which we
believe will contribute to greater long-term
outcomes for our students.

Vincenzo Settembrino, Technical Administrator,
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Studies,
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

ThinkPad

E590
13-HourBatteryLife

Specifications:
Processor: Up to 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8565U
Graphics: Integrated Intel® graphics
Memory: Up to 32GB (2 DIMM)
Storage: Up to 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD
Operating System: Up to Windows 10 Pro©2020 Lenovo. All rights reserved. These products are available while supplies last.
For any questions concerning price, please contact your Lenovo Account Executive.
Lenovo is not responsible for photographic or typographic errors. Trademarks:
Lenovo, the Lenovo logo, Rescue and Recovery, ThinkPad, ThinkCentre, ThinkStation,
ThinkVantage, and ThinkVision are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo.
Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel
Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company, product, and service
names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

15.6”
Display

2.1kg
Lightweight
Portable”