CHALLENGE: Find a cost-effective video solution capable of producing better overhead images than those generated on 32-inch CRT monitors for sunlit classrooms, conference sites, and libraries.
SOLUTION: Install an economically feasible solution that includes DLP projectors, widescreen displays, and interactive whiteboards.
PROJECTORS HAVE made a major difference for the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (LCISD) in Rosenberg, TX, 34 miles southwest of Houston, where projectors and widescreen displays have slowly been replacing 32-inch CRT TV monitors over the last three years.
Director of Career & Technology Education Tracie Holub, who oversees the 60 teachers who instruct junior high and high school career and technology classes, says that the projectors have already made an impact. “Visibility is the biggest thing,” she says. “Now, the instructors and students can see details on a big screen that they would not have been able to see on the TV monitors.”
Houston-based AV integrator Data Projections installed Toshiba TDP-T40U and TDP-TW90AU projectors, Da-Lite Model B and Model C 10-foot manual projection screens, and upgraded audio equipment throughout classrooms and conference rooms in the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (LCISD) in Rosenberg, Texas.
Lessons require students to split their attention between personal computer screens and an overhead image. However, Holub says that it was virtually impossible for everyone to see, for example, a cursor move to a drop-down menu on an overhead TV screen — even if participants left their workstations and approached the TV monitor. These attempts to get a better look caused disruption, squandered time, and led to frustration.
In contrast, the bigger, sharper images that now appear on 10-foot screens have improved access, saving time and energy. The students' attention is thus more engaged where it should be — on learning the course curriculum.
Steven Hickman, the school district's director of technology, devised the new solution with assistance from local presentation solutions reseller Data Projections, a Houston-based AV design and integration company contracted to integrate, physically install, and hook up the equipment. “In classrooms trying to demonstrate what's on a computer screen, the TV doesn't provide any clarity at all,” Hickman says. “If you get below a 16-point font when you're showing a student how to use Microsoft Word, for example, the words really can't be read on a TV screen.”
To complement its wireless technology, the school district also bought nine SB580 Smart Board displays from Smart Technologies. The displays connect to a computer and digital projector to allow users to control computer applications directly from the display, write notes in digital ink, and save any work to share later.
Projectors also better fit the bill due to space constraints imposed by the classrooms themselves. For example, sinks and other equipment in science labs limited “enough room for a TV to sit, so we elected to go to a projector hung from the ceiling,” he says.
Data Projections, which served LCISD's needs in the past, brought out a couple of brands for Hickman to see. He decided that the Toshiba projectors were what he was looking for. “It wasn't just some XYZ brand,” he says. “They have a quality reputation and you know they're going to stay around.”
Price and service guarantees clinched the deal. “Basically it was price, performance, warranty, brightness, and features,” says Matthew Zaleski, Data Projections' vice president of sales. According to Zaleski, the Toshiba TDP-T40U ($1,215) and TDP-TW90AU ($1,678) projectors have a “three-year ‘spare in the air' warranty — if something goes down, the school district gets a next-day replacement.”
Space constraints in the classrooms also contributed to Hickman's decision. The TDP-T40U measures 3.8 by 11.2 by 10 inches, and weighs 6.6 pounds, while the TDP-T90U is 4 by 11.7 by 10.8 inches, and weighs 6.2 pounds.
In addition to the projectors, LCISD bought drop-down screens and upgraded audio equipment (new amps, microphones, and speakers). Da-Lite's Model B and Model C manual projection screens, which have a Controlled Screen Return Feature, were selected to further ease use and installation.
“The Model B variety of this screen is very light and can easily be mounted on grid clips on suspended ceilings,” says John Copeland, Data Projections' account manager for LCISD. “Model C screens are a little heavier and can typically be wall-mounted using ‘L' brackets or ceiling mounted using all-thread. Both varieties of screens offer excellent front-projection qualities with good gain over painted dry-wall or cinderblock.”
Califone PA-300 speakers with built-in amplifiers were ordered in white to match the drop ceiling tiles upon which they were mounted. They were easily installed at the projector location utilizing the Chief CMA-440 Above Ceiling Tile Kit.
Standalone Crown Audio CRO-D75A amplifiers were also placed in the boardroom, along with Shure UT4A and UT2 (SM58) wireless microphones. “The boardroom is about three times larger than the size of a typical classroom, and in a classroom you don't do sound reinforcement for individuals — it's strictly equipment-oriented,” Hickman says.
The projectors hang from the ceilings above the drop tiles, and are typically attached with uni-struts, or are used in a portable capacity.
However, cinder blocks in some classrooms posed a tricky challenge to rendering the installation aesthetically pleasing. “You would have had to run an external cable down the cinder blocks, but you can't go behind the walls,” says Zaleski, who suggested a wireless alternative that came at the same price as the wired Toshiba projector Hickman liked.
“Instructors can come in the facility with their wireless PCs and, as long as they have a wireless card, they can connect to the projector without any cables,” Zaleski adds.
Hickman was enthused at the prospect of a wireless alternative for another reason: the software that enabled a multimedia proposition. For Holub and her staff of instructors, this meant the option to incorporate offerings from the Internet, be it content per se or a better way to illustrate how to use a drop-down menu.
For Hickman, it also signified the ability to incorporate third-party display products. “Software lets you emulate handwriting [to better express formulas, for example] right from the computer,” he says. “You can also annotate a slide once you have it up there — it takes advantage of several different pieces of technology all rolled into one.”
Hickman says LCISD got its first wireless projector, which is controlled by a Toshiba Protégé M200 tablet PC, about a year and a half ago. Data Projections' Copeland says that he bypassed Toshiba's available computer output port for a solution utilizing Extron Electronics' distribution amplifiers. “The low cost of the Extron P2DA2 made it possible to eliminate one of the cable runs and, in the end, clean up the installation and save the customer money,” he says. “The Extron P2DA2 XGA allowed for much more tactile and fluid control of the mouse and content. The Extron P2DA2xi is compact, and we've never had an issue with it interfacing with an owner-furnished PC.”
Hickman points out that teachers face the class and have their backs to the overhead monitor, directing their computer commands for the projected image by looking at the PC monitor.
“If I wanted to have the display show up on both monitors and not use one of those distribution boxes, I'd have to have a cable that comes out of the computer and goes through a conduit to the projector's VGA in-port, and another cable that comes out of the VGA out-port to the computer,” he says. Conversely, the alternative requires half as much wiring to a distribution box stationed somewhere between the computer and projector.
To take even better advantage of wireless technology's bells and whistles, the school district also bought nine SB580 Smart Boards from Smart Technologies. The touch-sensitive Smart Board displays connect directly to a computer and digital projector (rear projection models can include an integrated projector). Users can opt to control computer applications directly from the display, write notes in digital ink, and save any work to share later.
Hickman estimates that about 60 Toshiba projectors were installed throughout the school district. The total cost to the district was estimated at about $81,500.
Robin Berger is a freelance reporter who specializes in various technology issues. She can be reached at rmpartner@yahoo.com.