Advances in multimedia projectors and drops in their cost have made them popular for all sorts of applications. They are popular in business and in home theater, but they are also immensely useful in education. Projectors ranging from big, permanently installed projectors to small portable multimedia projectors are used at all levels of the educational process in both private schools and public schools, from grade school all the way up through the university level. The smaller projectors are relatively inexpensive and very portable, and can thus be used rather cheaply by moving them from classroom to classroom and putting them away when they are finished being used.
Many teachers value portability primarily, and it is more important that the projector be versatile than that they have a level of image quality that would be suitable for home theater use. Even when educational users project video, their purpose is to convey information, whereas a movie immerses you in an imaginary world. In fact, while teachers sometimes show movies, pictures quality is less important for this purpose than for movie viewing for the sake of movie viewing.
The needs of educational, business users and home theater users are different enough that while projectors exist that can serve all three markets, there is no true one size fits all projector. All three types of users look for different sets of features and specifications. IN fact, more than one type of projector is used in education. A teacher may show a presentation on a small portable projector in c lass one day and may take the class to a large auditorium with a projector permanently installed on another day.
Today’s powerful digital multimedia projectors are proving highly effective for educational applications. Today’s projectors can deliver huge, bright images in rooms with normal lighting conditions. This innovation stands in stark contrast to the days when overhead projectors were used for the classroom, necessitating the darkening of the room where the lesson is given. They are also far more portable than the old fashioned overhead projector, and the smallest ones are more compact than most laptops.
Most teachers have enough on their plate without having to learn about the technical aspects of setting up a projector and using it. With today’s projectors, all you have to do is plug the projector into a power source, plug it into a computer, configure your lesson in PowerPoint or whatever presentation software you prefer, and you’ll be ready to go! You can even leave the room lights on, so students attending your presentation are free to take notes and examine their notes and any handouts you might be inclined to give them.
Given the variety of projectors types for a variety of applications, their ease of use and incredible versatility, it is no wonder projectors have gotten so popular in today’s classrooms, ranging from grade school all the way up to the university level. Projectors are so useful and so affordable; you are unlikely to even find a classroom that doesn’t have one.
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