Document Camera with Computer

If tying up a computer every time you need to use a document camera is cramping your teaching style, Samsung Opto-Electronics America’s UF-130DX Presentation Station is the closest thing to a self-standing presentation machine. With a built-in AMD processor and Windows CE, the UF130DX builds puts 720p resolution images at 30 frames per second on-screen. Just put your lesson on a CompactFlash, SD card or USB memory key and it’s ready for the class, the system can handle PowerPoint, Word, Excel, PDF and images. You can try it out at booth 1252.

Document Camera for Close-Ups

If items get blurry when you zoom in on them with a document camera, you probably need a higher resolution camera, like Samsung’s SDP-6500DXA. With 1.5-megapixels at its disposal, this camera has a 12X zoom lens for extreme close-ups as well as the ability to send its images to a PC or directly to a projector or monitor. Chock full of features, the SDP-6500DXA has a timer for creating elapsed movies, Secure Digital flash card slot and shake reduction circuitry. Price: $3,600.
Specs: ½-inch charge coupled device sensor, 12X optical zoom, 15 frame-per-second video.
Bottom line: Samsung’s SDP-6500DXA provides the vision to get every detail.

Document Camera Makes the Rounds

I really enjoy seeing a creative teacher working with a document camera and projector or large screen monitor to augment the curriculum with everything from a magazine article to live video of artifacts or lab equipment. AverMedia Technologies’ CP300 portable document camera makes it a lot easier to share these devices, rather than having one per room. Small, light and easy to fold up, it can go from classroom to classroom as needed yet faithfully reproduce images of 3-D objects with its 3.2 megapixel camera and zoom in on details. The camera costs $800
Specs: 24 frames per second of video, 3.2 megapixel images, 16X zoom.
Bottom line: Why get a document camera for each room, when you can share them.

Super-Sharp Document Camera

Got a high-definition monitor or projector, but the same old document camera? The Lumens DC260 is the first document camera to create high-definition images and has a 3X optical zoom lens. The three gooseneck arms are for the camera and pair of lights.
Specs: 1080p resolution, SD card slot, two lamps.
Bottom line: This document camera gets the most out of a high definition projector or monitor.

Lumens Donates 100 Visual Presenters to Teach for America

Teach for America is a unique program that takes some of the country’s best college graduates and professionals, and asks them to commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools. To reward these noble efforts, Lumens has donated 100 visual presenters to the program to help them level the technological playing field in these challenged classrooms. Instead of crowding a handful of kids around a desk, the visual presenters lets corps teachers display texts, photos, and 3-D objects by placing them under a camera and projecting the image onto a nearby surface. This gives 100 classrooms a better chance to beat some of the challenges facing low-income schools.

Win a Document Camera: Contest Runs Through April 18, 2008

Do you have a winning a document camera lesson? AVerVision’s Lesson Plan Contest asks educators to submit a lesson plan relating to one of six subjects that includes a document camera as the primary technology or demonstration device. One new AVerVision document camera and $1000 will be awarded to the winner of each subject category.  Subject categories include: Mathematics, Science, English/Language Arts, History/Social Studies, Art/Music, and Other. The contest runs between January 25 and April 18, 2008. Winners will be chosen and announced by May 2, 2008.

New for Science Class

Science teachers will like the new Elmo TT-02S visual presenter. It's lightweight and takes just one hand to focus in on microscopic details like small 3D objects and documents. No more squinting students squashed around the microscope -- just line the camera up to a microscope eyepiece, and you're in business. Check out more specs at www.elmousa.com