The Technology of the Multimedia Classroom

The Multimedia Classroom is a paean to the Art of Jury-rigging.  I simply got together every piece of technology I could beg, borrow, or (never mind that last part.)  It is well within the means of any classroom teacher.
 
Here you see one side of the classroom.  I simply collected monitors from out of date computers, and discarded television sets.  (Only one channel is necessary and sound is projected through the computer.) 
A video amplifier is necessary when so many monitors are wired together.  As I had no money to invest, I simply asked students and teachers to give me those old broken VCRs they had hanging around the attic.  The amplifiers worked, even though they couldn't play tapes.

One controls all the sound and different inputs (TV, Computer, VCR.)  Each of the others drive three monitors without major signal loss.

Geoffrey, the talking Christmas tree, is there as a guest.
I control the action from my desk.  There's an old Karoake amplifier I use to control the sound.  Powerpoint, Microsoft Works, Netscape, and various other programs are run from that computer. 

Taped to the right of the monitor is an old video camera.  It's hooked into the system so children can send show and tell to the monitors.
 
The one expense for the system
is a converter to change your
computer image to a TV image.
Many computers already have
something like TV Elite already
built in.  Another method is to
use a presentation converter,
such a MultiPro.  (Your media
Center probably already has
such a device.)

The class is run from my desk, with never more than two students to a monitor.  I keep a wide row in the center of the room from where I do most of my teaching.  I find it a very effective way of teaching class.  Notes are focused; the class moves smoothly; and we have internet access to reference just about any question a student could ask.



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