UK - As a parting legacy, retiring head teacher at Farnham Heath End comprehensive school in Surrey, David Hoggins, has presented new incumbent Nick Phillips with a progress technology wing which is light years ahead of anything generally found in the state school sector.
Costing just over £500,000 to develop (with the aid of judicious management of their capital budget and a £100,000 local authority grant), the aptly named 21C technology block took a year to build, and fulfills the Head's dream of providing "complete immersion in an environment where the children can interact wirelessly on any level."
The facility features GestureTek GroundFX interactive floor projection system and GestureTek Screen Xtreme, installed by Digital Vision AV. GroundFX integrates interactive 2D and 3D visuals with sound, thus enhancing the interactive feature and further immersing children into the environment. Both GestureTek displays are administered by a wireless mouse and keyboard.
Limited by the height of the ceiling, Paradigm AV, the GestureTek UK distributors, advised using a Sanyo PCL-XM100L (5000 lumens) LCD projector with a short zoom lens, firing onto a single mirror rig above, which folds the beam vertically downwards to create a 2.5 metres x 1.9 metres floor image.
Screen Xtreme is addressed by an Optoma EX525ST (2500 lumens) ultra short throw projector to provide an 80" image over a distance of under 1 metre. This enables the projector to be kept close to the wall (where the motion detector is recessed) without casting a shadow by the user.
The community school can build on GestureTek's applications - using it to adapt applications or create new effects - and thus offer a gateway into a future in which the pupils will themselves play a key role.
