In a bid to personalise teaching and learning, and to enable a collaboration both inside and outside the classroom, Dell has unveiled what it calls its Next Generation Learning Platform at the recent BETT 2012 show in London.

The Next Generation Learning Platform integrates education applications, digital learning resources and data management systems into a cloud-based package to create one streamlined interface that can be tailored to suit the needs of teachers, parents, administration staff and students alike.

Dell is said to provide the content repository for searching, sharing and accessing resources, whilst its Education Data Management systems will deliver the tools needed to capture, securely store and track student data.

The plan is also for Dell to connect the Next Generation Learning Platform to a new range of assistive technologies, including text-to-speech software, magnifying screens and touchscreen monitors to support students with disabilities or special learning requirements.

But how will the Next Generation Learning Platform fare? With competition from Microsoft's 'School in a Box' platform and Google's own education platform based solutions, Dell will have to provide the ultimate solution to the growing demands and budgetary constraints currently being faced by UK schools.