A pair of recently conducted pilot projects in Germany has showed that interactive software in the classroom can improve student learning and collaboration.
NEC Display Solutions and software company DisplayNote partnered to integrate teachers’ PCs, tablet devices and projectors. DisplayNote’s software allows teachers to take content from their computers and stream it devices such as smart phones and tablets.
Students can then use these devices to add notes, annotations and media, and then save and store the modified content for future use. The software allows distribution and collaboration amongst learning groups and enables pupils and teachers to interact.
The solution is ideal for collaborative learning with three principles in mind: Think, Pair and Share. A pilot initiative at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf suggest that it helps to foster new collaborative learning methods while integrating various technologies, such as notebooks and tablets as well as projectors and multi-touch displays.
“The next-generation education tools presented by NEC and DisplayNote focus on collaboration and highly efficient methods of learning. So far the results from our pilot project look very promising and we look forward to continue the evaluation to learn more about new technology tools being used to improve today’s teaching process since now learning can take place anywhere at any time,†said Prof. Dr. Kati Schmengler at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf.
“The results of collaborative learning are very good and superior to classical teaching methods where the teacher holds a monologue in front of the class and everyone else has to listen,†explained Dr. Kirch, Akademischer Rat at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich who has used the technology for investigating new methods of collaborative teaching. “The projector still plays an important role despite the possibility for using the tablet screens. It gives pupils the possibility to present their work to the class integrating all kinds of media, like text, pictures and film.â€
Commented Ulf Greiner, product line manager business projectors at NEC Display Solutions Europe: “The interactive pilots show that technology can improve learning and collaboration in schools. And we all know that this is an environment that is host to the most demanding critics – 21st-century students who are surrounded by all kinds of gadgets in their daily lives.â€
NEC will offer a free DisplayNote Presenter licence to all customers buying the M Series or U Series projector between 5 November 2012 and 31 December 2013.