Electronic Whiteboard

[marianomarini]

I found This very interesting:
http://code.google.com/p/ardesia/wiki/WiildOs
I was looking for this since few years ago!
Almost every Meeting House has a projector, wiimote and IR pen are very cheaper so.
Our training meeting or conference, eccetera, could be very impressive.
Software as "Ardesia" (developed by Italian Guy) give a final touch so we can "write" directly to the white board and save the image.

[russellhltn]

I've seen several systems like that in companies I visit. They seem to just collect dust. I'm not sure why.

I think it requires a certain leadership/teaching style to be used to advantage.

[marianomarini]

This system is mainly thought for school. I don't see any usefulness of the system without the software on background.
But the intersting thing is that you can use any reflective surface. TV, Pc Monitor, ecc. This way you can turn any screen into a sort of touch screen.

[dnvrdan]

I find this sort of technology appealing and interesting. A small laptop would be a great way to make a portable system such as this. Poco sells an LED projector that is very small, although it is mostly useful in dimly lit rooms for the one hour battery life.

I like this idea!

[marianomarini]

I made an IR pen (using the LED of an old TV remote control, his hold battery and a microswitch from and old mouse) and tested the system.
During my tests I saw that all works well if the image is projected in a reflecting surface or, and this will be my choice, if it's retro-projected.
Retro-projecting will prevent even shadow's problem.
There is indeed another way to use the system even in a non-reflecting surface: Reverse pen. So the LED send his ray directly to the receiver.
Now I'm doing another pen, more short, and with IR led on the back.
Are you still interested on it?

[marianomarini]

I found another good program for youth activities: FreeJ.
It's a video mixer. You can load different media: Pictures, videos, direct video from a videocamera, eccetera, in different layer. Apply different video filter and choose wich one to show or mixing them.
I think it will be a good oppotunity for youth to animate their activities with live videos and effects.
Also could be an opportunity to learn using tech!
Most of all it's free and at no cost. The only require is Linux. This can be overcame using a Linux live CD.

[Geocasher]

I think that the technologies that are coming around (i.e. smartphones, ipads, and other things) are good and that people should use them for quick reference if they are in the middle of a meeting or don't have their scriptures/manual with them. However I think that the paper scriptures/manuals should be used more often than the electronic devices. I think that if you have access to the paper version of the books that you need then you should use them instead of using the electronic version.

[christopherlohman]

A quick comment, somewhat in reply to geocacher and also in encouragement for this thread.

Our local public elementary schools use "Smart" boards. They're essential the a commercial implementation of this threads topic. From a technology point of view the boards are unimpressive. The use model is identical to the mouse. The hands of the board user, are just mapped to the mouse input. For the most part the teachers merely launch powerpoint in presentation mode and just push a next/previous button on the screen. Not very high-tech.

The teachers, however, love these things because these boards have magically increased retention rates and overall learning. Anything taught using the smart board draws more attention, and is learned more intently. The students come home and actively talk about what happened on the smart board. You have to pry information out of them for anything that didn't occur on the smart board. I suspect one aspect of this improvement to learning is due to the additional senses used to comprehend the subject.

I fear the potential negative factors these could introduce. From my experience with the local public schools, however, I am inclined to say that this technology is worth pursuing. With the new curriculum and delivery models in the ward buildings, an interactive whiteboard is a logical progression. And even thought I'm not crazy about the idea of having electronics in the classrooms, it seems to be working very well for the California public education system.

I think perhaps it's time for us to develop maturity in the use of the electronic products. We now have wifi in our ward building, and can stream mormonchannel videos for use in the class. This is a very useful teaching tool. But after streaming the channel, the kids are inclined to want to continue using the phone for play. They're easily distracted by electronics. If, instead of shunning electronics in the meeting house, we integrate them so much that they become common place; then perhaps their ability to distract will become diminished. If we teach them to use the electronics appropriately, then perhaps the ultimate teacher, the spirit, can still be felt.

They've been using this technology in the public lower and middle elementary classes now for 3 or 4 years and so far, it seems to be working very well. I therefore encourage those technical contributors in this post to pursue further.

[1cde2]

RE: russellhltn's comment on whiteboards no longer being used--I believe cell phone cameras caused their demise. Prior to erasing the board, people now just snap a photo and transfer it to the laptop. Quick, cheap, simple record preservation.
Electronic boards are relatively expensive, while the cell phone camera is free since in nearly every meeting at least one person has one. You can equip all four walls of a room with "dumb" whiteboards for the price on one "smart" board. Hence, for most companies whiteboards are no longer cost effective.
Now, the above relates only to the aspect of preserving the record. There may be a totally different issue in a learning paradigm. Smart boards likely have some advantages if they are real time interactive with motion, color, etc.

RE: christopherlohman's comments on the retention advantages of smart boards...........I'm interested in knowing if smart boards really increase retention over regular white boards on which the instructor writes/draws real time rather than having the board content just be presented statically. Or does the advantage accrue only if the board is fully interactive? And at what cost? And does the age of the students make a significant difference?

[johnshaw]

The demise of the white board is related to one thing. Cost of repairing/cleaning meetinghouses where adults, kids, children get marker on a wall, carpet, window... the advantages of chalk here are clear.