Innovative audiovisual equipment that supports teaching through striking tools were installed at the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
By Ana María Restrepo
The educational program has been characterized throughout history as a process of socialization where not only physical and mental capacities are developed, but also skills, abilities and forms of behavior. Traditional education involved face-to-face study where word and memory were the main drivers of knowledge, and these were reinforced through activities a little more playful.
Currently, education has changed, taking giant steps that provide children, adolescents, young people and adults with more dynamic, fun and interactive learning systems, face-to-face, blended or virtual that facilitate knowledge.
The Internet has facilitated this new type of education, putting at hand all trends little developed in the past, likewise, new audio and video technologies have allowed us to have systems that were previously only in the imagination of Georges Méliès or Jules Verne.
In May 2008, the first 3M close projection team was installed at the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University in Bolivia, which has allowed greater interaction between students and the teacher, as well as the development of more dynamic sessions.
The Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University, located in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, was founded in 1880, offers 59 careers at the undergraduate level and 11 at the higher technical level, Education Sciences and Social Communication at a distance. It has 12 faculties, six postgraduate areas, 60,000 students and more than 800 rooms.
Projection system
The developments of the XXI century have provided the directors of the University with the monitoring of science by implementing new technologies that improve the capacity and quality of education, so they decided to install the first test projector, located in an important room of the faculty of medicine of that institution.
Esteban Soruco, sales and marketing supervisor of 3M in Bolivia, explains that this SCP 712 close projection equipment has the additional capacity to digitize the projection area, that is, it has a reader and a digital marker that interact with each other and allow the teacher to write about the projection virtually. Also with this marker the teacher can open and close programs, as he did with the mouse on the computer screen.
"When we talk about close projection, we mean that shadow is no longer generated when the teacher is between the projector and the projected area, allowing him to move freely, without receiving light on his face or generating shadow. Normally, conventional equipment projects at greater distances, generating this problem," says Soruco.
This projector brings a new benefit for the educator, as it allows him to make his classes more dynamic, efficient and interactive. In this way, he no longer has the trouble of receiving the light on his face, and for the students the advantage is that they do not need to take notes of what the teacher writes on the board, they simply attend to the explanation and after finishing the class, the teacher can pass them to the students by e-mail, print it or burn it to a CD or Flash Memory.
Adjust to needs
One of the biggest challenges of universities or educational institutions is to ensure that students maintain attention for a long period of time, which is why innovative solutions must be used to help this purpose.
In 2007, more than 100 standard multimedia projectors were installed at the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University that have facilitated teacher-student interaction, and they will continue to expand their installation to the extent that teachers use the equipment and perceive its advantages. It is also expected to reach this circumstance with the new team.
It should be noted that this projector is integrated since its manufacture, with 40w audio, inputs for RCA video, S-VIDEO, RGB video and the type of lamp technology is DLP.
This device offers its users the necessary flexibility when working with it, because as a cost-benefit advantage it has to be integrated everything into a single computer the client does not need any additional element to perform their work. As Eduardo had already mentioned, this is a multimedia projector with a digital whiteboard, audio and Super Close Projection technology. "If we consider having all this separately, the economic cost would be greater and the complexity of the installation as well," says Soruco.
Also, when implementing the system there were no difficulties, because being a simple equipment to install, as well as to operate, its use and implementation is facilitated.
Education with technology
For a student there is nothing better than having entertaining spaces in class, being able to see things from another perspective and having advanced systems that allow a better understanding of the subject. Also for teachers it is much more comfortable and simple to have a technology that allows them to have everything in one, write, read and interact with their students from the same place.
Due to the above, the Autonomous University Gabriel René Moreno chose this solution for its facilities, since it is an innovative product, with support and above all with state-of-the-art technology. "Today public universities are wanting to rebound in terms of technology, this thanks to the important economic income they are having from a tax that is applied to gas exports and for which public universities receive a percentage," explains Esteban.
Although the technology is very new and there are not many equipment that have been marketed to date, the customers who have implemented it are very satisfied with the functionality and technology of the equipment, mainly because they are easy to use, do not require a great training, and the advantages already mentioned make users can work better their presentations.
It should be noted that another state university that is located in the city of Tarija in southern Bolivia, wishes to acquire this equipment to provide some of its facilities based on the experience and satisfaction of the Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University.
