Digital Smart Classrooms: Transforming the Age Old Education

Education

Education is not just about being literate enough to read and write, it is about developing your perceptive and observational skills and constructively using them to deduce and infer, education is about becoming aware and making a positive contribution to our society and the world in which we live, education is about passing on the morals, values, literature, heritage, traditions and the vast scientific knowledge we gather in our time to the next generation. Education has never been a one dimensional process. It has always been an engaging triumvirate of teaching, learning and feedback assessment activities. And this is how mankind has developed.

Technology today has become so interspersed with the fabric of our daily life that we cannot in our wildest dreams imagine a life without it. Scientific wonders are a useful part of our everyday life, and so it was only natural that this science and technology enter the portals of the education realm too. Today, all modern schools have incorporated the use of Information and Communication Technology products as a complementary aid to effectively teaching the curriculum content and enhancing classroom practices all over the globe.

The use of such technology media is what transforms an ordinary teaching learning room into a smart digital classroom. With its impressive audio video aids, response systems, feedback analysis programs, big projection screens, interactive whiteboards, multimedia pens, animated content and so on, teaching has become a highly efficacious process engaging the attention and participation of all.

Have you ever wondered or noticed how little children seem to be able to learn the lyrics of a song and remember the story of a movie but not what’s in a 3-4 page lesson?

Here’s the reason why:

It is a fact that the more the number of senses involved in observing a phenomenon or event, the better is the retention of the same in our memory. When a child simply hears the lesson in the monotonous voice of the teacher, he will never be able to visualise and learn as effectively as when he does when shown visual clips with interesting voiceovers. Live experiments are always better than reading about them. The list of examples is very long. The point is that ICT resources have revolutionized the face of education like before!

The elements of ‘Plan and Control’

Not just this, one cannot rule out the twin important aspects of smart classrooms. Not only is the feedback via response systems instant, it simultaneously saves a lot of time which would have been spent by the teacher checking answer sheets manually! Grading papers, compiling report cards and drawing comparisons on the student’s performance can now be done in almost no time at all! The results are processed instantaneously. With the evaluation process a piece of cake, look at the other benefits. Your lectures become very planned and organized. You have control and can easily create a captivating ambience backed by AV support. The benefits are just so many!

Here’s a list of some important items you need in order to set up a smart classroom:

1. A desktop or laptop acting as the central system
2. Document Camera/Visualisers
3. Projector
4. Camera
5. CD/DVD player
6. Graphic Tablets
7. Remote controls
8. Big Interactive LED/LCD Panels
9. Interactive Whiteboard
10. Multimedia Pens/Stylus
11. Wireless Microphone for convenience
12. Speakers
13. Student Response System
14. Feedback assessment software
15. Educational Software
16. Video Conferencing systems
17. Printer
18. Scanner
19. Copier
20. Hi Speed Internet Connection

Source: http://smart-classroom-equipments.blogspot.in/

Effective Presentation Techniques

In this dynamic world, we can't afford to avoid the benefits of effective presentation. Effective presentation is a great tool to communicate ideas as well as educate, entertain and persuade people. A good presenter ought to have ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. Here are a number of tips to help insure you are giving a good presentation:

Start with an attention getter: "Good beginning is half done." So try to start with attention getter tools like telling a story, showing a picture, asking a simple but interesting question etc.

Keep it relevant: Audiences pay attention to stories and ideas that are relevant for them. Know your audiences in advance then design your presentation.

Use facts, not generalities: Fuzzy concepts distract audience attention. Using quantifiable, verifiable, memorable and dramatic are of great help than general statements.

Keep it short and crisp: Nobody likes lengthy and boring presentation. Instead of beating around the bush, come to the moot point directly.

Customize for every audience: "Different stroke for different folks." One-size-fits-all presentations never fit right and usually make you feel bad. Every audience is different; so customize it as much as possible.

Speak to the audience: Try to focus on the audience instead of slides or notes. Audience focused speech encourages them to focus on you and your message.

Avoid jargon: Your audience may have different background and culture. Keep your presentation jargon-free so that it could be easily understood and remembered. 

Prepare some questions: Q&A session at the end of the presentation makes it interactive and engages the audience.

Giving a presentation requires substantial research, organization, rehearsal and ability to influence people. An effective presentation has to get attention of the audience, arouse interest, engage them from beginning to end and persuade them to take action. It should be audience centered rather than speaker centered.

Source: http://geneetechnologies.blogspot.in/

Genee scope-A perfectly designed digital microscope for educational world

Genee Scope- A robustly built electronic microscope is smartly designed for Educational sector in particular. It’s a well built piece of equipment that simply plugs in the USB port. Best of all, Genee scope is a one-of-a-kind electronic digital microscope that carries so many features in it. Some of its prominent features are as follows:-
• Students can instantly magnify, capture and modify images or videos with it
• It’s got an easy to use focus control
• This digital microscope offers excellent optical zoom up to 100x
• Ergonomically designed with detachable camera head is an added advantage
• Its sturdy metal base makes it highly durable
• Amazingly, it carries minimal spare parts with a less chance to break or lose parts
• It’s got underneath light option for clear visibility of objects to be examined.
• Its best feature is its USB connector which is immensely easy to use with low service cost

This portable Digital Microscope doesn’t have cumbersome structure and tangling wires which is difficult to manage. Rather it is easy to carry from one classroom to another with utmost ease. Best of all, its software is easy to install & is very user-friendly to use. It helps the user to capture & edit still or moving images (including time lapse) very accurately. Moreover, Genee Scope also got annotation tools for highlighting & labelling an image, a comparison tool for layering two images over each other and a measuring tool for accurate measurement of subject matter.

Touch New Technologies with Genee Powerboard

If you are in search of a whiteboard which could serve your purpose in the best possible way, then your search ends here. The highly innovative Interactive whiteboard- Genee Powerboard is a new technology that utilizes infrared technologies to give unparalleled performance in the board room, conference suite or even classroom. This means, you can easily use this Digital whiteboard even like an ordinary whiteboard!


Only with Genee Powerboard you’ll get an advantage of recording your presentations and teaching sessions in advance. For instance, if you are a teacher or a professional who is planning to go off the job for few days due to some emergency, even then you can instantly record your teaching lessons on your personal computer, save in a pen drive and get it played in your classroom or presentation hall in your absence. Miraculously, this is possible! This wonderful feature; which you won’t get in any other whiteboard- it is called a Screen Recorder function. This means, that whatever you write on your computer or on Genee Powerboard gets recorded and can be played back on a PC or Genee Powerboard in the exact order it was recorded.

Best of all, Genee Powerboard carries an innovative Gesture Technology which makes you smoothly open, close, flip, scroll, zoom and fling images and data just with your fingers. Its immensely useful Software Toolbar is easy to use by both teachers and students. It carries an excellent Rover function that gives an added advantage of moving the page up and down without erasing the text again and again as each and every slide carried endless page length. So keep on writing!

The excellence of this wonderful interactive whiteboard doesn’t ends here. Genee Powerboard also got a sleek Pen Tray with 3 colored dummy pens, a dummy duster and a stick. The best part is that if pen go missing, you can write with your fingers in various styles as incredible technology lies in the pen tray and not in the pen.

Genee Scope- The First of its Kind Ergonomic Designed Microscope for Classrooms of Today

Genee Scope is a ‘Sensible’ Microscope which can outsmart Traditional Microscopes in every way. Some of the excellent features which this 21st century Digital microscope carries are as follows:-

Extremely Portable and Interoperable
Portability is the best feature this Student Presentation Microscope carries. Because of its portability teachers can comfortably carry it from one classroom to another classroom. It’s easy to carry sleek structure along with its sturdy base turns it an easy to store gadget.

Immensely Interoperable
Genee Scope is a wondrous digital microscope which can be easily connected to Laptop, Computer and Interactive whiteboard using USB connectivity to visualize things invisible things. Things which are impossible to see with naked eyes like dust particles, microorganisms, Blood samples, water samples etc. can be easily seen with the help of Genee Scope.

Excellent Magnification range
Unlike traditional bulky cameras, Genee Scope consists of compact battery compartment, bright LED lighting, removable camera/ Magnification head with magnification range up to 100 times which makes it excellent for viewing specimens or slides and capturing its snap shots as well.

Best suited for visually impaired students
Genee Scope is intelligently designed to provide a clear view of smallest and tiniest particles to visually imparted students as well.

Ergonomic shape
Genee Scope is specially designed by keeping ease and comfort of students in mind. The Ergonomic shape and structure of this Digital Microscope is best suited for younger students. It’s easy to grip handle for up and down movement of lens gives them an easy focus.

Robust designing
Electronic Digital Microscope is robustly housed in a sturdy plastic case ensuring high durability and minimum cleaning requirements. Moreover, Genee Scope doesn’t have any moving parts as well which makes it a most preferred option within students and teachers of today.

USB connection
Last but not the least; it has USB connection to magnify, capture and modify the images.

Besides these superb features; Genee Scope is also environmental friendly, durable, carry no power issues and does rapid focusing instantly.

Genee Toolbar- An Innovative Piece of Interactive Software

Genee toolbar; a collection of user-friendly interactive teaching tools; designed to work alongside any software application and curriculum content.

It is vivaciously designed interactive software that works very effectively in conjunction with digital tablets, interactive whiteboards, visualisers and document cameras. The best part is that it allows instant and easy access to various captivating presentation tools.

Unlike other interactive software, Genee toolbar allows teachers to teach students with utmost ease and comfort. Some of the unique features which make it different from other interactive software are:-

Completely Interoperable: - Genee Toolbar is a key to make all ICT products interoperable as it works in conjunction with the interactive whiteboards, visualisers and graphic tablets.

Immense Compatibility: - Amazingly, Genee toolbar is highly compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Conveniently placed and useful tool: - Genee toolbar takes a cosy space at the bottom of your whiteboard screen making it all the more convenient to be use by students and Teachers. Its useful icons like keyboard, slideshow, eraser, clear screen, next, back, annotation, Image Capture, Video Capture, Spotlight and highlighter can be used very effectively during presentations and classroom sessions.

Instant data video recording: - Genee toolbar also carry an option to record the teaching data, videos, images or any relevant information which is getting projected on interactive whiteboards in compressed mode or non-compressed mode for video capturing tasks.

Easy recoding with numerous video formats: - The best part is that users can easily do the data recording in number of formats including AVI, MPEG, Mpg, Dat, Flv, DivX and Wmv.

What more anyone can ask for! It’s a wonder toolbar for teachers as it allows them to move backwards and forwards though slides, stop slide shows, annotate or highlight over data displayed on the board, reveal and spotlight item of interest.

Audience Response System- Smarter solution for effective assessment

Can we imagine a world without technology? Appears worst! In my opinion, technology is a driving force for everything. Without advancement in technology; everything becomes lifeless, boring and so deadly routine. Even if a ‘pinch’ of technology gets added into our mundane routines then it can surely bring a ‘spark’ into our lives.

Similar is the case with education system. Technology plays a vital role in taking education system to the next level. A level; where everything is influenced with digital accessories, Audio-visual elements and numerous other teaching tools. Today’s generation is blessed with technologically upgraded gizmos and gadgets. Students and learners of today have easy access to all kind of ICT and AV solutions including Audience Response Systems, Projectors, Interactive Whiteboards, Touch screens, document cameras, PC, Laptop and lots more.
Amongst these gadgets, Audience Response System is a tremendous teaching solution that has changes the whole face of education system.

What is an Audience Response System?
You must be wondering what an Audience Response System is? An Audience Response System is a battery operated or chargeable handset range by which a presenter asks questions from an audience and then they reply back through their personal handsets. The students' responses are then captured by response system software through the receiver and a report gets generated in the form of table, graph, pie chart etc. Eventually, these reports can be easily displayed on an interactive whiteboards, Touch screens, P.C or on any other projection surface for an audience to see.

Inside the classroom, an Audience Response System can be used by teacher to create new quizzes for students, to prepare mock tests, to introduce real-world scenarios, to identify the weak areas of students and to fetch out their responses and feedbacks.

Genee Response systems are market leading Audience Response Systems which consists of one main teacher handset, and a set of student handsets, one handset receiver and response system software. These are used for carrying out formative and summative assessment in a classroom or lecture room. In other words, it is a highly effective interactive response system that builds up a ‘Two Way Active Communication’ between students and a teacher.

This cutting-edge interactive response system allows yes/no, true/false, numeric and multiple choice answers. Moreover, it can be integrated with PowerPoint to create presentations.

Virtual G-pad is an advance version of Audience Response System which facilitates presenters and teachers to collect share and review real time data from their audience without the requirement of battery operated response systems or clickers. It is interactive response system that has replaced usage of handsets or clickers by an interactive graphic displayed on the screen of any PC, laptop or even handheld platforms (iOS) including iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Moreover, Virtual G- Pad enables students to give responses to questions asked without being physically present in the classroom.