NEW PRESENTATION SYSTEM MODEL FOR THE CLASSROOM
A PRACTICAL SOLUTION
By David Di Gregorio, Supervisor of Library Media Services, Tenafly High
School
Teachers need a presentation system in their classroom that is easy to
use and that can enable them to seamlessly integrate media into their
lessons. Even better, they need a system that students might be able to
interact with. Popular solutions in the past have been video
projectors and Smart Boards or scan converting computer screen to
televisions. These solutions fall short in various ways. They require
shutting off harsh florescent lights and drawing the shades, fumbling
with inputs and remotes and making sure there is enough audio
amplification coming from the tiny speakers on the video projector.
Wires need to be run all over the room for power and Internet and in
many cases a tremendous amount of teaching time goes to waste.
Projector bulbs dim over time and are expensive to replace. All this
make the 16mm projector era look better than ever! Most of us know that
teachers generally shy away from anything that is unreliable and
requires cumbersome setup.
There is good news because there is now a viable and cost effective
solution. This solution leverages several things; the resolution
convergence between computers and television has matured (the cost of
larger flat panel televisions has come down) and wireless technology is
reliable and inexpensive,
Permanent installation of a 46 inch (minimum) LCD television equipped
with VGA input mounted with an articulating bracket in front of the
classroom is the first step toward the solution. The second step is the
mounting of a 19 " rack enclosure to the wall a couple of feet off the
floor more or less under the LCD panel. This enclosure accommodates a
networked computer and a VCR/DVD combo unit. Raceway up the wall will
accommodate the wiring between the computer and the flat panel
television. The flat panel television acts as the monitor for the
computer as well as the VCR/DVD. This setup has many advantages as
follows: LCD televisions usually have excellent integrated audio
amplification, they are bright enough to use without adjusting the
lights, they require no expensive bulb replacement and they switch
easily from one source to another. The enclosure mounted to the wall
keeps all the wiring out of sight, keeps the equipment secure and
"custodial friendly" which means it never has to be removed from the
room in the summer and easy cleaning underneath can take place. All
those wires have been eliminated.
There is more. One of the biggest problems in classrooms is the
teacher's computer. Place it on their desk and wires go across the
floor. Place it against a wall and teachers have lost eye contact with
their students. The solution here is a wireless laptop. With the
wireless laptop (or even better a tablet PC) teachers can remote into
the computer connected to the LCD television and present everything from
PowerPoint to full screened streaming video from the Internet. With a
wireless tablet PC, teachers can walk around the classroom and allow
students to interact with the information on the LCD television letting
the entire class look on.
This clean, teacher friendly solution enables teachers to more
effectively than ever integrate media into their lessons. And this will
allow students to have the benefits of a full class period of
instruction enhanced with media that they can interact with need be.
And it is an excellent solution that keeps equipment secure and in place
without breaking the budget.
For more information, feel free to contact David Di Gregorio -
ddigregorio@tenafly.k12.nj.us
David Di Gregorio
ddigregorio@tenafly.k12.nj.us <mailto:ddigregorio@tenafly.k12.nj.us>
Supervisor Library Media Services
Tenafly High School
www.librarymedia.net <http://www.librarymedia.net/>
19 Columbus Drive
Tenafly, NJ 07670
CELL: 201-696-8062
201.816.6617
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