Multimedia / Video Tools

From data projectors and digital video to interactive whiteboards, educators today have a wide array of multimedia presentation tools at their disposal to enhance visual instruction—allowing them to share ideas, information, charts, images, animations, audio, and video more effectively.

Over the last few years, projectors have improved significantly—with upgrades in quality, brightness, features, and ease of use. Today’s projectors are now light enough to be carried easily from room to room; many are bright enough to run without lowering the lights and can be controlled wirelessly from anywhere in the classroom; and, on higher-end models, administrators can control networked projectors remotely to save energy and extend bulb life. In addition, new affordable filter free projectors are now available which enable administrators to lower maintenance costs and reduce the risk of premature lamp failure.

The cost of digital projectors has dropped significantly as well, with good projectors now available for between $500 and $700. But educators have a lot to consider before choosing a projector, such as student needs, resolution, brightness, contrast, connectivity, weight, size, price, and availability. To help you navigate the varied landscape of projectors and other multimedia tools, we’ve assembled this collection of stories and other resources with the generous support of BenQ. —--The Editors

eSchool News Articles

  • eSN Special Report: Visual Learning
    Wed, Jan 02, 2008 Primary Topic Channel: Video technologiesThese are special times for visual learning. Spurred by dramatic advances in digital technology, the use of video as an instructional tool is finally coming into its own as a mainstream feature of American education. [ Read More ]

  • Focus on projectors: Smaller, brighter, cheaper, wireless--and networked
    Thu, Jun 01, 2006 Primary Topic Channel: Projectors & presentation
    As digital projectors continue to get smaller and brighter, and as prices continue to drop--with offerings now under $650 in the education market--experts project these devices are certain to become more prevalent in K-12 classrooms and could approach near ubiquity in university settings soon. [ Read More ]

  • Video sites make science more accessible
    Thu, Dec 06, 2007 Primary Topic Channel: Video technologies
    A number of video-sharing web sites have cropped up online, designed to let scientists broadcast themselves toiling in the laboratory or delivering lectures. Fans of the niche sites say they help students and the general public understand the scientific process, allow researchers to duplicate one another's results, and could help discourage fraud. And in the wake of disappointing results on an international science exam, they might even help spark more of an interest in science among U.S. students. [ Read More ]

     

 

     

 

  • Video helps Baltimore County overhaul its curriculum
    Thu, May 17, 2007 Primary Topic Channel: Video technologies
    Recognizing the need to engage a new generation of students who are visual learners, Maryland's Baltimore County Public Schools--the nation's 25th-largest school system--has installed video servers and a video-on-demand system in all of its 169 schools. The system, SAFARI Montage by the Library Video Company, will allow teachers to access and play more than a thousand video programs from leading publishers such as National Geographic and Scholastic. It also will enable Baltimore County to expand not only its curricular offerings, but also its professional development, according to school district officials.[ Read More ]

     

 

  • Education a key focus at InfoComm '06
    Tue, Aug 01, 2006 Primary Topic Channel: InfoComm
    Thousands of buyers and sellers of audio visual (AV) technologies convened in Orlando in June for the annual InfoComm trade show--and many of the new products they discussed were aimed at schools. [ Read More ]


     

 

     

 

  • MSBA debuts online TV network for education
    Wed, Apr 05, 2006 Primary Topic Channel: Multimedia
    Looking to take the use of video in the classroom and the community to new heights, a group of forward-thinking educators in Missouri has launched a new internet-based television network--one that might transform how education and training is delivered in schools throughout the state, and beyond. [ Read More ]


     

 


     

     

  • Document camera helps capture students' focus on learning
    Fri, Jul 01, 2005 Primary Topic Channel: School Administration ,Business news
    Last September, Ruth Carter, a third-grade teacher at Scenic Hill Elementary School in Kent, Wash., opened a box that had been sitting in the school's workroom for two weeks. What she found changed the way she had been teaching her students for more than eight years. Inside the box was an ELMOHV-110XG visual presenter, which had been given to the school's principal for his perfect attendance record at the Kent School District principals' meetings. [ Read More ]


     

 

  • Spotlight on Presentation Tools
    Tue, Jul 01, 2003 Primary Topic Channel: Business news,Technologies
    From digital video and data projectors to interactive whiteboards, educators today face a daunting array of presentation tools. In this Special Feature, eSN illuminates the key features and new innovations in technology that can help you zoom in on the right choices for your schools. [ Read More ]

Additional resources

ProjectorCentral is a review and information site that maintains a complete database on nearly 4,000 digital projectors. See also ProjectorCentral’s forum on projectors for classroom use.

At the eSchool News Technology Solutions Center you can identify the leading education technology providers (browse by keyword, company name, or product category), discover featured products, and review relevant research briefs, case studies, and white papers.