Three recent articles I read about the next generation of multimedia display and interaction. They all seem to go together in the same vein...so here's that vein.
New Projectors Make Any Wall an Interactive Whiteboard (eSchoolNews)
eSchoolNews reported on two LCD projectors - Epson's BrightLink 450Wi and Boxlight's ProjectoWrite2/W - which incorporate the functionality of an interactive whiteboard within the projector itself. What this means is that by using the infrared or wireless stylus that accompanies the projector, you can turn any surface - a pre-installed classroom whiteboard, a cafeteria, media center or gymnasium wall, or any flat surface in a teaching location - into an interactive whiteboard.
While I think IWB's have both positives and negatives, and that they're not the classroom-revolutionizers that they're always made out to be, these new projectors have some game-changing potential. First, it means that school districts wouldn't have to pay for both a projector and a whiteboard, thereby allowing them to redirect purchasing funds to other assets. Second, I've found in my district that our IWB's logically had to be installed in a particular location in the classroom - on top of an existing whiteboard - which then essentially locks the configuration of the classroom of a teacher who wants to use it. Without having a set IWB location, teachers can reconfigure their classrooms to, for example, permit easier student access to the IWB surface and allowing them more hands-on interaction with the technology.
Are Pico Projectors the Next Big Cellphone Trend? (Yahoo! News/Reuters)
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas over the second weekend in January, Microvision, 3M, and Texas Instruments all demonstrated "pico" projectors - about the size of a bar of soap, and using laser technology to project excellent images. Commercials for cell phone projectors have even already started popping up, but the application can extend beyond cell phones. For example, with the advent of Windows 7 and it's support for tablet PC's, couple that with a pico projector, and you have the ability to take standard classroom technology and add the benefit of extreme portability.
Imagine if you couple that with the technology mentioned above to include radio- or IR-based IWB functionality. Wow - while I love being able to work in a classroom of today with projected interactivity, imagine what it'll look like in 10 years.
CES: TVs From the Third Dimension... (CNET)
Also at CES, the biggest talk was about 3D TV. Several companies premiered their new 3D television sets, and while they follow on the heels of James Cameron's 3D masterpiece Avatar, there are some drawbacks (as there are with any first-generation technology): they are expected to be the most expensive in their respective companies' lines; they don't have much 3D content yet; and viewers will still need "the glasses", although not the cheesy cardboard red-blue glasses of the past.
While a very cool toy for some, I have no doubt that should these find their way into schools, it'll be quite a while. And I'm not sure I can envision an entire classroom of students comfortably keeping the glasses on. It may have the potential for creating even more interesting virtual field trips, but for the standard presentation in the front of the class? Seems kind of superfluous. Or am I wrong?
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