Projection for Universities
One of the first pieces of technology to enter and reshape the classroom was the projector. First appearing in the classroom in the 1950s projectors have been a staple piece of technology in every classroom for decades. Over this time, they have evolved in shape, size and capabilities.
Students in 2019 don’t know a world without laptops and smartphones which is why it is necessary for technology to be incorporated into the classroom. Not only to keep students engaged but to also provide a better learning experience and provide longer retention of information.
Projection at Universities
Digital projectors have paved the way for new learning experiences and offer the means to reach students in different ways. Classes can display live, engaging information rather than students flicking through out-dated booked and print outs.
As projectors have advanced, they have become extremely easy to use; there is no longer a need for IT specialist knowledge to connect a projector to a laptop. As well as being user-friendly, projectors can also troubleshoot themselves if a problem occurs.
Projectors are a popular choice for displaying content at universities. Regardless of the size of the auditorium, a lecture is given in, LCD projectors allow images to be projected in a crystal-clear format. Every student can see the image in the lecture theatre, no matter where they sit. Before LCD projectors, images often became distorted and blurry, meaning only the students at the front of a lecture could make out what was on the screen.
An example of projectors creating a better campus environment would be Loughborough University, where existing spaces on the university’s West Park campus were re-designed to separate out into individual plate rooms: 4 teaching rooms and 4 lecture theatres. These spaces enabled full collaboration. Projectors in conjunction with TeamMate lecterns, visualizers and lecture capture software helped facilitate a more immersive learning environment.
Benefits of Using a Projector at University
- Interactive presentations to keep students engaged
- Makes better use of classroom time
- Eco-friendly
- Share big ideas on a big screen
1. Interactive Presentations To Keep Students Engaged
There is a wide choice of projectors to choose from and many schools and universities are spoilt for choice. With technology advancing at a rapid rate, new types of technology are constantly coming to market.
Interactive projectors allow for presentations to be memorable, engaging and something that resonates with students. Interactive projectors use multi-touch technology, meaning up to ten students can draw on an interactive projector at the same time.
Presentations can be edited and updated in class whilst discussing a topic, these annotations can then be saved, shared and uploaded so that everyone can access the presentations and notes. Even if a student misses a lecture or class, they can still access the information and what was discussed in the class.
Even in large lectures, when students are more likely to stay in their seats, an interactive projector is a valuable tool to increase their engagement. From watching videos together and participating in a live quiz to learning from real-time information and collating ideas about a specific discussion.
2. Makes Better Use of Classroom Time
It is much faster for teachers to load up a presentation and project it on a screen than to transcribe all the information onto a whiteboard from hand.
Students no longer have to watch the back of their lecturers’ head as they write new information on the whiteboard as the lesson progresses. New information can easily be loaded onto the screen by switching slides in a presentation.
This also allows for lessons to flow naturally and students to engage, asking questions and driving the lesson themselves rather than sticking to prepared questions with written information on the board.
This also eliminates and chance for students to misread their lecturers and teachers handwriting. Some handwriting can be hard to decode, especially when they have written small to fit more information on the screen. Students take better notes when they are reading clearly projected text, there is no confusion between two words.
3. Eco-Friendly
No longer do teachers have to spend hours at the printer at the start of the day, printing, assembling and handing out paper copies of important information and worksheets, digital slides can be shared with students post-lecture instead, or easily uploaded onto a shared drive.
Increasingly students are demanding that their universities are sustainable and wanting them to be eco-friendlier. Universities are now ranked by their sustainability, so prospective students can be sure they are applying to universities they believe in.
4. Share Big Ideas On A Big Screen
Cost-effective and reliable projectors provide an adaptable solution for sharing information to achieve maximum impact.
University lecture halls vary in size and can host between 50 and hundreds of students. This creates a need for a large screen for everyone to be able to see. With large format displays, it is often the case that only the first few rows of students can clearly see the content. A projector delivers presentations and teaching material that is viewable by the entire lecture theatre. Advances in laser projection now mean that content can be displayed clearly at a high resolution in any bright environment, at the ideal viewing height.
One of the main reasons the projector remains central to education is because is their ever-increasing level of engagement. Projectors can help increase attention and the absorption of information as everyone in the lecture hall can clearly read the content. Larger lecture halls benefit from dual-projection scenarios which add flexibility and allow for more of the class to be involved.
Find Out More
To find out more about the best projectors for universities contact your Midwich account manager or call our sales team on 01379 649200
