| | What is a "Smart Room" | | Pros/Cons | | Why Smart Rooms? | | Pictures of Configurations | | Components | |

| | Price Sheets | | Useful Link sand Resources | | What are Smart Rooms being used for? | | The Future?? | |

In the 2000-2001 school year, University School of Milwaukee outfitted each Middle School (grades 5-8) with sophisticated  presentation/teaching tools.  These tools included a ceiling mounted projector with the ability to handle feeds from multiple devices.  These projectors currently are able to display a computer signal, DVD/VCR materials, laser disc resources, etc.  With the flip of a few switches, the teachers in these rooms are able to display a variety of engaging media material to students.  Up until the installation of these devices in the science rooms, mounted projectors have typically been located in common rooms such as a computer lab.  By mounting these resources in the classroom environment, our teachers have full time access to quality presentation resources that are able to be used in the many spontaneous circumstances that come up in a given teaching day.  Again, what separates these rooms from traditional presentation areas is that these resources are deployed in the regular classroom on a permanent basis.

We do provide our faculty members who do not have a permanent Smart Room with access to modern presentation tools as well.  We have one roving Smart Cart, complete with a high quality NEC projector, wireless keyboard/mouse, DVD/VHS speakers, laptop computer with a wireless network connection, and self powered/amplified speakers.  This roving cart may be used with a roving Smart Board.  While teachers have to plan carefully in advance for utilizing this resource and are not able to use it on a spontaneous basis, it still gives them the occasional opportunity to work with these tools.

The Middle School's library lecture area is equipped as a Smart Room as well.  The library offers the same tools as the roving cart, but they are fixed in place.  Teachers can schedule out this room when they need access to these presentation materials.

In the Middle School, we are trying to add 1-2 Smart Rooms each year.  We are starting in the rooms where the teachers have demonstrated a past interest in making regular use of projection equipment. 

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Pros and Cons of permanently mounting projection equipment in the regular classroom environment

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8th Grade Social Studies Smart Room...Teacher-Chuck Taft
Ceiling mounted projector and wall mounted SMART Board in 8th grade history room.	Control center in 8th grade history room.  Components and cables are neatly arranged in this switch/hub closet.	View of teaching desk and control center in history room.	RF Wireless Remote and Keyboard by Gyration
Library Projection System (Installed Summer of 2002)
Library Projection system	Library projection system	Library control center...receiver, VHS/DVD, wireless keyboard/remote, and PC with network connection.  Again, we used a large hub/switch cabinet to house the equipment.	Housing for library equipment.
Smart Room at Hartford University School (MPS)
Student at  using the SMART Board.  Hartford recently outfitted two 7th grade rooms as Smart Rooms.	Erin Shaffer, 7th grade teacher at Hartford University School, teaching a math lesson with her SMART Board.
Roving Projection Cart:
Roving cart...projector, laptop, DVD/VHS, and speakers	Roving cart and electronic SMART Board	Laptop on roving cart has wireless connection to school network	Anchor AN 1000X powered/amplified speakers on roving cart.
Middle School Science Rooms
7th grade science room.  Mounted projector and pull down screen.  Not as neat and tidy as the history room, but it works great.	Control center in our 8th grade science classroom.	Creative mounting of projector in 5th grade science room.  This room has a vaulted ceiling so our mounting options were quite limited.

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Contact teachers who are using these resources regularly:

Vendors...MCSi has done countless smart room installs in schools throughout Wisconsin:

Media Consultants Systems Integrators- Excellent vendor with a great deal of experience with the design and install of presentation gear in the classroom.  Contact Joe Haupt for more information on installs in the Wisconsin area.

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1.  Teachers are more likely to become highly skilled in the use of modern presentation tools when they have dependable and regular access to these materials.

2.  Teachers enjoy teaching with these tools.  Many teachers who use these resources say that they make the tools help create a highly engaging learning experience for the students.

3.  Highly motivating and interesting educational content can be easily shared with students (eg-video streaming resources such as United Learning).  These rooms are quite appealing to our visual learners.

4.  All students are able to see and hear lectures, demonstrations, movie clips, etc.  Projectors display on a large screen and audio quality through the book shelf speakers is outstanding. 

5.  Cost is dropping...soon, all of our classrooms may be outfitted as "Smart" teaching environments.

6.  Students in these classrooms regularly have the opportunity to present with these materials.

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Rough price break down for the Smart Room setup in Chuck Taft's 8th grade social studies room.  This does not include the cost of installation.  At USM we are able to do most of our smart room installs in-house:

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Our typical Smart Room configurations in the Middle School come with the following components:

• Projector (we try to go with NEC projectors)
• Computer/laptop with network connection
• Projection screen/electronic white board (we use Smart Boards)
• Wireless Keyboard/Mouse by Gyration (this is a radio frequency device, NOT infrared) GyroRemote and Wireless RF Keyboard Suite | |
• Multimedia receiver We have several Sony STR DE-475 multimedia receivers.  This allow the user to switch between video devices with the push of a button. 
• Speakers

**Note...we do not currently use digital document cameras with our systems.  While I think they are a useful tool, with a little planning, other tools can easily substitute for a document camera without the large price tag.

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These tools are used for a variety of purposes.  Here is what many of our teachers and students are using them for:

1.  Sharing PowerPoint presentations with students.

2.  Sharing web sites that relate to the curriculum.

3.  Viewing educational DVDs and VHS tapes.

4.  Collaborative writing projects using the remote keyboard and mouse.  Students complete a collaborative writing prompt by passing the keyboard around the room.

5.  Annotating presentations, websites, word files, etc using the SMART Board.

6.  Students often give presentations using these resources.  Many students will use several of the features of the SMART Board throughout their presentations.  Here are some photos of students using the roving projection cart: Pict 1, Pict 2, Pict 3, Pict 4.

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What will classroom presentation systems look like in the future?

Plasma Displays:

Gateway recently introduced a 42 inch plasma TV for $3000.  This is roughly the cost of many middle tier projectors.  The display functions as a TV and will also accept a computer signal as well.  While the 42 inch screen as not nearly as large as the image cast by a projector, this tool has many advantages.  Below are a few situations where a plasma display might be better to mount than a projector.

1.  Plasma displays would be easier to mount in classrooms with vaulted ceilings.  It may be extremely difficult and costly to mount a projector in a room with a vaulted ceiling.  A plasma display is relatively easy to mount on a wall and most likely would not require an extra electrical run.	Gateway's 42 inch plasma TV
2.  Situations where it is difficult to pull electricity, cabling and other gear to the ceiling.
3.  In small classrooms, it might make more sense to go with the plasma display...the large image cast by a projector may not be necessary in

Low cost LCD displays:

An extremely interesting article at eSchool News Online about affordable, paint-on LCD displays...imagine an LCD display in every classroom!

Clearly, as cost continues to shrink, we will see more powerful presentation tools making their way into the regular classroom.

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