Over the years, we've found that computer using educators are concerned with improving how students are taught, increased retention of information, durability of equipment and price. In the case of higher education, add to that list preparation of students for work in the "real world" after graduation. In 2011, we've reached the point where many if not most classrooms have their own projectors or access to a shared projector. How can classroom technology be better utilized to enhance the teaching experience and improve learning? One option is to add camera technology, which can be easily connected to the projector or the computer. These cameras are often called "document cameras" or "visualizers." A few years ago they cost $1,000 or more. Today, high quality document cameras can be purchased for as little as $200. Common uses of document cameras in K-5 include: helping students learn to read books, by putting a book under the camera and projecting the page onto the large screen. (This is used by both librarians and teachers.) Show and tell. Art teachers use the camera to demonstrate techniques working with clay, painting or creating the project of the day. Music teachers show songs with the camera, so the kids can follow along. As many of these kids have grown up with [too much] TV in the house, the teachers can turn themselves into TV personalities by pointing the camera at themselves, and having their image appear on the large screen. In middle school, math teachers use the document camera to work out math problems. English teachers use the camera to instruct grammar by placing a homework paper under the camera, and then reviewing it, and correcting it, in front of the whole class. Geology teachers place rock samples under the document camera for all to see. In high school, biology teachers can rotate the document camera's head to show dissections of frogs and other experiments. The football coach can take a page from the playbook and diagram plays underneath the camera for all to see. And let's not forget the principal, who in any school can use the camera during presentations to the faculty or the whole school and incorporate live images of 3-D objects or papers. When the projector is mobile and not mounted in the ceiling, the document camera may be placed on a table or cart next to the projector. (The advantage of not mounting a projector is that they may be shared more easily, as the projector may be moved from room to room as needed or even off site if required.) Some schools will outfit a single lectern with a projector, document camera and even an LCD writing monitor, which can be moved from room to room. Although most document cameras are separate devices, one manufacturer makes an "all in one" unit that combines the document camera with a projector. Nippon Avionics (or "AVIO") builds the camera into the bottom of the projector so that documents and 3-D objects are placed on a glass platten (akin to a flat bed scanner or a photocopy machine) on top of the projector and can be viewed. The advantages of the AVIO are ruggedness (no camera arm to break), ease of set up and use since you never need to move, align or focus the camera head, and better image quality because of higher resolution. The disadvantage is cost, especially with the advent of $200 stand alone document cameras. In the college environment, document cameras are ubiquitous and found in almost every lecture hall combined with a lectern, while the projector is ceiling mounted. Some of the manufacturers represented by Alliance International provide reduced pricing for schools, colleges and universities. Please e-mail us at info@alliance-intl.com if you have any questions. HoverCam T3 $219.00 Single Width Lectern $2,795.00