On February 24, ITS hosted a Document Camera Showcase to give faculty a chance to play around with four different camera models. A new device about to make it into the classroom standard at Exeter, a document camera is like an overhead projector, but it project much more than transparencies. One can display, for example, text, art, homework, peer edited writing, maps or a 3-D object on a projection device. We, in ITS, wanted to know what features and functionality our teachers thought were most important. We also wanted to know where teachers might like the camera to be located in their classrooms.
With the enticement of homemade chocolate chip cookies, we had a dozen and a half teachers walk through the showcase and try their hand at projecting student math work, Japanese exercises, maps, 3-D objects, and, sometimes, well, just their hand.
We also demonstrated how each camera recorded still images and video (and in some cases audio), and we gave teachers the opportunity to see how the camera might interact with the TabletPC.
Since the focus of a Harkness classroom is the table, the document camera can help keep everyone seated and still allow everyone in the room access to the same material when that material is not digital (yet). We see great potential for use of document cameras in programs in mathematics, the visual arts, modern languages, history, and other areas.
With the enticement of homemade chocolate chip cookies, we had a dozen and a half teachers walk through the showcase and try their hand at projecting student math work, Japanese exercises, maps, 3-D objects, and, sometimes, well, just their hand.
We also demonstrated how each camera recorded still images and video (and in some cases audio), and we gave teachers the opportunity to see how the camera might interact with the TabletPC.
Since the focus of a Harkness classroom is the table, the document camera can help keep everyone seated and still allow everyone in the room access to the same material when that material is not digital (yet). We see great potential for use of document cameras in programs in mathematics, the visual arts, modern languages, history, and other areas.
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