Based in Dubai, UAE, Max Hsu is the regional director for ViewSonic Operations in the Middle East and Africa since 2018. In 2001 Max started his career in the electronics field by joining Delta Electronics, and in 2002 Max joined BenQ Corporation as PM and was then promoted to Director for business development in India until 2010. Since then, during his time at BenQ Max managed 25+ cross-functional teams and developed projects for 20+ products that required competencies in strategic thinking and interpersonal communication. His journey continued by joining ViewSonic International Corporation Taipei office as Director for Product Marketing in 2014, and since then Max was promoted to Sales Director for MEA & India, then director for Business line where he developed new countries business, achieving an average of 30% growth in different markets. In 2018 Max was appointed Reginal Director for the MEA region and since then Max and his team are achieving yearly growth and developing new country’s businesses across the region.
- Learning has gone online today. As the GM, how do you help ViewSonic to adjust to the new post-pandemic era?
ViewSonic has been planning & investing in EdTech way before the pandemic. Yet during the pandemic, we had to push the process to be faster in providing the right solutions to the education community.
And we haven’t slowed down post the pandemic, we are still investing and innovating new solutions and technologies to help schools, universities, and educators to step to the next level with the right platform and tools. Such as UNIVERSE by ViewSonic, which we launched recently as the first metaverse platform for education, and the response from partners and users where remarkable. And to deliver this solution to the market, we are bringing skilled EdTech specialists to support sales and users in adapting the new technology inside their facilities.
- Share some knowledge of how teachers can saddle innovation to further develop the educational experience.
The concept of “Developing” is the process of coming into existence or creating something new or more advanced, and the development process needs: (ideas, tools and knowledge).
As we develop the technologies and tools, we place them between teachers’ hands, and in this case, teachers will be facilitators to improve and develop the education process inside classrooms, as we call it “ Prepare, Present & participate”.
Today’s students are different; they were born at the peak of technology, so the classroom, learning styles, and teaching methods must be different.
myViewBoard provides ready-made interactive gamification content from K 12, which meets 21st-century skills and students’ needs.
So, educators can develop the educational experience by using the visual learning style which is more efficient than the auditory style as per many new market studies.
- As a person who has been in the field of technology for a long time, what changes do you see today? Do you think they have changed for the better?
Absolutely, EdTech is revolutionizing the traditional classroom by integrating technology into routine learning activities. It helps teachers, students, and management to redesign the teaching environment and enhance the learning experience. Because of EdTech, learning has now become a 24*7 process where students have access to learning materials around the clock. The courses, certifications, and learning modules are drastically different from traditional methods due to EdTech. For example, educational institutions can streamline classrooms with the assistance of technology, making them more inclusive and student-friendly.
EdTech has made inclusive learning feasible by bridging the communication gap between teachers and students inside and outside the classroom.
- Being a leader in the tech field, what insight do you have about the current state of technology in education?
Technology has impacted almost every aspect of today’s life, and education is no exception.
Technology has profoundly changed education. For one, technology has greatly expanded access to education and simplified it. And nowadays EdTech is not a luxury but it’s a must to have in every school, university & training facility.
Such as myViewBoard provides massive amounts of tools & information (books, audio, images, videos) and all are available at one fingertip. Access to learning opportunities today is unprecedented in scope thanks to technology.
myViewBoard facilitates accessing the educational resources to teachers through the cloud integration, embedded browser, and the Originals (the ready-made content).
Opportunities for communication and collaboration have also been expanded by technology. Traditionally, classrooms have been relatively isolated, and collaboration has been limited to other students in the same classroom or building. Today, technology enables forms of communication and collaboration undreamt of the past.
Students can share what they are learning with students in other classrooms in other countries and this is a real case that happened with one of our university partners, where due to myViewBoard they started to implement common classes between Dubai & New York branches and holding classes in Dubai by professors in the USA to exchange knowledge and experience. So that’s the impact of ViewSonic EdTech solution in today’s education community.
- ViewSonic’s Interactive Display for Education changed the learning environment forever. What is your opinion on the use of technology in the classroom?
Interactive displays by ViewSonic called “ViewBoard” and it comes with our own software “myViewBoard” support active learning through student engagement opportunities and create a more efficient classroom for teachers and administrators. Showing videos without ads can be enhanced to allow students to become involved in the learning process. By providing Pop Quiz and polls, teachers facilitate active learning. Multi-touch capabilities let groups of students edit and experience onscreen content as a team and brainstorm. Students can experiment and demonstrate their results to the rest of the class and throw any content directly to the ViewBoard.
So due to this, we can see that the use of technology inside classrooms is positive and will lead to impressive results in the mid & long term of the new generations.
- Adapting to new changes can be tough. What advice would you give educators in today’s tech-infused world?
True, adapting to new skills and quick changes is taught, especially after decades of getting used to the same system in educational institutions. That’s why at ViewSonic we have launched a series of activities to support teachers learning phase and adapting EdTech skills, such as:
- Teachers Universe: a closed community group for educators, to discuss education topics and share EdTech skills through demo video, Live sessions, and educational videos.
- ViewSonic PD program: we have launched the FREE personal development program, aiming to support educators to learn new EdTech skills through myViewBoard software by November 2022 we reached 8 million users worldwide.
- The program is designed to have 3 levels, Graduate, Teacher & Trainer and once a teacher finishes the training they will get a certificate from our side to confirm their pass in this specific training.
I really advise teachers to enrol in this program, as they will get valuable information and training which will help them during their day-to-day work.
- What do you think the education system needs for a better educational experience?
The education system has faced a lot of challenges. And they managed to overcome it with the help of technology, so we need to be aware that going back to the traditional way of teaching will be a step back. So the best thing education systems can do is to work alongside us to support in transferring the schools, equipment, teacher and IT teams to the new Technologies and tools, through training, live demo seasons and support system.
Keeping in mind that many education institutions and planning on updating their EdTech tools to the newest technologies which gives them a competitive advantage on many levels.
- How is ViewSonic innovating to keep up with the latest trends in technology?
I am glad to say that ViewSonic is not trying to keep up, but we are leading the industry with our innovations. We have hundreds of specialists and developers that are working day and night to innovate the latest technologies in parallel of the studying market and users need to make sure that the solution we are providing is meeting the user’s expectations and even more. Due to this ViewSonic solutions has an incredible integration between hardware, software, service, and the ecosystem, which cannot be found in other solutions.
And these innovations are reflected in the market, as during 2022 we are among the top 3 brands worldwide and in the region, we have achieved number 1 in different quarters during the year for the ViewBoard segment. As for Software solutions, myViewBoard grew to 8 million users worldwide and we launched UNIVERSE by ViewSonic which reflects how strong and ready ViewSonic is to support educators and students at the same time.