Sunday, September 5, 2010

Educational Technology of LCD Projectors to Enhance Student Learning

Inside a classroom there are times when technology resources can enhance the learning experience. Implementing an LCD Projector to support lessons, learner outcomes and educational software is an efficient and effective choice.

Enhance Learning

The LCD Projector is a learning technology resource that will open opportunities to learning that were previously not available, nor as convenient to use. “Communication is a key learning skill and a data projector allows a teacher or student a whole new dimension in how they share ideas, information, charts, images, animations, audio or video. Learning is much more powerful if it offers support for a variety of intelligences such as visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and logical-mathematical - a projector can help to achieve this variety in a classroom” (Zerdec.net.au). There is an educational world full of uses:

• Images
• Tutorial Videos
• Educational software (e.g. assessments, learning activities, and presentations)
• Internet and website research
• Video cam and chat features

All of the above can greatly enhance the repertoire of learning tools available to the teacher to provide meaningful learning experiences for students.

Districts and Teachers Applications

LCD Projectors are useful for administration when presenting school activities, field trips, as a useful tool for teacher training, auditorium presentations (e.g., serves as a large monitor for people in the back) and presentations of funding and/or academic achievements.

LCD Projector implementation combined with a whiteboard, computer and the internet are nearly infinite. It can used to display an image that is then illustrated with colored white board markers to enhance a learning lesson. For example, it was noted that “a teacher may display a paragraph on the screen and ask students to mark errors on the whiteboard, repeating the exercise several times, and easier then a conventional overhead projector” (eHow.com, 2010), while this and similar exercises can be used in any subject.

                                                                                             Case Study Benefits

The benefits of an LCD Projector combined with a computer and internet access are limitless. It can be utilized to enhance cultural awareness in different countries other than our own. In a case study in Roblyer’s book, Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching, a teacher named Mia, was able to integrate technology in an online project to increase cultural sensitivity and respect for other cultures by connecting her students with students from other countries in a collaborative, online learning project that was a success in learning about other cultures in a meaningful way while also learning some geography and civics. Teachers remarked that it was difficult to not appreciate people who look different and talk differently from you when you’ve worked with them and gotten to know them (Roblyer, M.D., 2010, Pg.53), in online collaborative project that was not previously possible without implementing educational technology resources that are currently within grasp of schools and teachers.

 

References

Roblyer, M.D., Doering, A.H., (2010). Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching
           (Fifth Edition). Allyn & Bacon.

Henshaw, A., eHow.com contributor. School Uses for LCD Projector. Updated: January 26,
           2010. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_5916074_school-uses-lcd-projector.html

Lightbody, K., Zardec.net.au contributor. Data Projectors in Schools. Updated: March 5, 2007.
            Retrieved from http://www.zardec.net.au/keith/project.htm