TVs in the Classroom Are Dead – Long Live the Projector!

In this new age of the digital student, multimedia and interactive curriculum, there are two ways to engage students -- either give each of them a computer or outfit each classroom with a projection device that displays the information so that it is large enough for everyone to see. The latter is the direction we chose at Garland ISD when looking towards the future.

Today, every classroom at Garland ISD has a projection device, a document camera/webcam and a 100- inch (diagonal) projection screen. Now, all students in the classroom can see the screen no matter where they are sitting. The new Texas Instruments DLP projection technology allows the images from the computer to be bright even in the classrooms in our older buildings, which have a lot of windows.

Along with projection technology, we are placing digital slates in many of the classrooms, which will allow teachers to walk around and hand the control of the classroom over to the students. Imagine giving a first grader the ability to draw a circle around the correct letter, shape or color so that all of his or her classmates can see. Or, how about a calculus problem that is solved through collaboration by passing the slate from student to student, each solving a different aspect of an integral? Talk about keeping your students engaged and learning!

It goes without saying that in order to get the most from what projectors have to offer, you have to have quality digital media, particularly video content. The world has clearly decided to forgo supporting VHS tapes. With that in mind, we are now in the process of removing all VCRs from the classrooms and are no longer supporting them. Instead, we are working with our librarians and teachers to transition from VHS tapes to a digitally-delivered format whenever possible. The librarians and various district technology facilitators are assisting the teachers in finding similar licensed content within our existing SAFARI Montage video-on-demand system. In addition to VHS, we’re transitioning other traditional media into digital media. While it will be a long road, the trend towards a centralized digital repository of resources is becoming more certain than ever before, so we can’t delay. Whatever tools will be at our student’s fingertips, we need to be ready to support them!

With all this new equipment, proper management and maintenance is a necessity. Garland ISD has always centrally managed all of its projectors, turning them on and off at a specific time each morning and afternoon. This has saved our district countless dollars in maintenance of the projectors and has extended the lifecycle of the bulbs tremendously. Currently, our LCD projectors have an end-of-life cycle of five years. As we transition to the newer DLP projectors, we will continue to remotely turn all units on and off, but will also allow teachers to control all devices from their desktop computer through the SAFARI Montage Pathways SM system.

We’re very happy with the decisions we’ve made at Garland on all these fronts. Nonetheless, I am constantly being asked to prove or show evidence that the projection technology and the ability to show rich multimedia to students make a difference in learning achievement in the classroom. I guess I could hire a team of statisticians to create a test group, and then gather results for at least a year or more, but right now, that’s not a possibility for us. Instead, I thought I’d conduct my own experiment – remove the technology and content from a classroom. When the teacher refused, I turned off the projector myself. Well, after dodging all the flying books and listening to their vehement outcries, I could only conclude that any technology that teacher and student alike felt so fiercely about is technology that they don’t just simply want but really NEED. That experiment was evidence enough for me.

For Garland ISD, the projector is here to stay because it works, and the time for rich digital media and networked devices throughout our schools in order to enhance the classroom experience is not in the future -- it is now.