> The department is going to purchase a DOCUMENT CAMERA aka OPAQUE
> CAMERA. I've not used one, but I'm hoping I can use one to solve a
> few problems at once. This contraption is supposed to project an
> image of whatever you place on its stage--an ordinary piece of paper,
> a calculator, a textbook, etc. If it works well enough, we will have
> no need of overhead transparencies, nor of calculator overhead LCD
> panels.
>
> If anyone out there can give me any sage counsel or useful info about
> document cameras, I'd be obliged.
It has been my privilege for two quarters out of three this academic year to
teach
an elementary geometry course in our school's new "Smart Classroom" which,
among other innovations, features a "visualizer" - - basically a TV camera
focusing
on a flat area at the front dais and projecting to a screen at the front of the
room.
It's been great - - I really would find it hard to go back to teaching Geometry
with
just an overhead and black (or white) board. A very clear picture of my hand
and
my tools as I perform a construction is visible to students, so that they can
follow
along. I can call individual volunteers up to show off their ideas to fellow
students.
It is possible to throw down a copy of a recent handout or assignment and write
informally on it to show students what I had expected them to actually do with
it.
There is an electronic light pen that lets me add circles, underlines, etc. in
different
colors to whatever I am displaying at the moment. Every class, it seems, I
think up
new "moves" to make more effective use of this capability - - it certainly is
something that will take time to develop expertise with.
One of the best features is the zoom. By the time I zoom up a quarter and a
ruler
to fill the whole front screen, noone is going to argue with or doubt me about
the
diameter of the quarter to the nearest millimeter (or tenth centimeter), and it
is
easy and rewarding to get into discussion of associated uncertainty of
measurement.
The classroom also features 11 student computer stations (Macs). Unfortunately
at present we only have 3 copies of Cabri geometry, but are ordering more. I
have
the capability to call up any particular student screen to my monitor (or the
big
screen) for a closer look at what that student is doing. I can also write a
note to
one or more students ("draw another line segment" or whatever) and temporarily
supplant their computer display with my front-desk display. Needless to say, i
am having lots of fun!
RWW Taylor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester NY 14623
>>>> The plural of mongoose begins with p. <<<<
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