Give Teachers a Document Camera
What technology could you confidently give to all educators, and know they could use it?
In a recent online exchange, the topic was what technology teachers are actually comfortable using. Someone suggested that “there hadn’t been anything since the blackboard”, and another suggested the overhead projector. My comment was that teachers had plenty of practice with the latter for about 19 years in bowling alleys before it got to the classroom, so that was easy. There are mimeograph machines, actually broke one when I was student teaching—not a good start; didn’t get a job in that district, and of course printers and copiers, too.
But if I had to think of a piece of hardware that I’d be confident teachers would use, it would be the document camera, sometimes referred to as the visualiser. Now, I’m not saying this is the only thing teachers need, that would be crazy, I’m sure the first thing they’d want is a computer, netbook or notebook. I’m just saying that if you asked an educator, who doesn’t have a document camera—they’d want one. Not only that, it’s something that a teacher can set up themselves, and start to use immediately.
Sure, there would be training beyond sticking a book, paper, or object under the camera, but those basic uses helps build for doing more, like snapping images, creating slideshows, as well as book and real life comparisons. It beats passing a bowl of fish around the room, or a precious fossil borrowed from a museum.
Today, the document cameras project clearer and more colorful images than in the past, and you can actually read the text. In the old days, some of my teachers would use that excuse to continue using overheads. It doesn’t wash today.
If you give an educator a document camera with video and audio capabilities, the sky is the limit. It opens the door for video of classroom activities, distance communications, stop motion animation, and more.
The software is the key. Most come with free, easy to use software, which allows a teacher to easily create, annotate, display or post Web lessons.
Let’s not forget that, today, all classroom hardware must communicate in order to create that interactive classroom everyone talks about, and most educators want. Connecting a document camera to a computer, projector, or interactive slate, or whiteboard doesn’t take technology genius, and most teachers are capable of doing it.
Economically speaking, document cameras are the best bang for the buck, and take up very little classroom real estate. Some fold down to nothing, and are light enough for a 5-year old to carry, not that I’d recommend that. Even the basic models, running under $500 have plenty of internal memory for images, and usually SD card slots as well. That’s something most teachers know from their own digital camera uses. There’s nothing better than prior knowledge.
I’m sure you will have your own ideas about what would make the best tech tool for teachers, but I have to say that I never had a problem with staff using a document camera. Being creative with one, well, that’s another story, and the answer is patience, time and how to workshops.
By Ken Royal
Read more of Ken’s comments by visiting The Educator’s Royal Treatment.
