Untethering the Teacher: The Power of a Wireless Classroom with David Lopez

 
This interview originally aired on MarketScale’s Pro AV Podcast.

Whiteboards, power-points, desktop computers, and overhead projectors are just some of the everyday tools that have characterized the primary school classroom for decades. Today, these tools have been exchanged for iPads, touchscreens, and tablets.

Despite this introduction of new, cutting-edge tech in education, David Lopez, senior manager of strategic alliances for education at ScreenBeam, argued that the classroom blueprint is largely unchanged. At its foundation, classrooms operate much as they did 100 years ago: rows of rigid desks front-facing a stationary teacher at the helm.

This, he argued on this episode of the Pro AV Podcast, is where education is in need of innovation, and where technology can make impactful change.

Lopez defined what can transform a classroom environment with a simple phrase: “classroom agility.” Many teachers find themselves glued to their desk all day, stuck at the motherboard or command center of the classroom unable to fully engage with students. But, when armed with wireless tools like ScreenBeam’s wireless technology, teachers can leave their desk and freely navigate and command the whole room.

“Powerful teaching devices should enable agility,” Lopez said.

In today’s streaming-based society, Lopez finds himself asking: “Why are we still plugging in our computers when we go into a classroom?” With technology like ScreenBeam and Classroom Commander, teachers can quickly, easily, and wirelessly share work in real-time simply by turning on the tablet’s camera and streaming to the front of the classroom.

The result? An engaged group of students looking to participate and share their work with the class.

“You’ve wowed your students by showing live video of what that student is doing in class,” Lopez said.

The best kind of technology is the kind that integrates into people’s day to day to make lives simpler, easier, and more efficient. With this ethos in mind, ScreenBeam’s wireless, cable-free technology aims to re-define the workings of the modern classroom.