If giving every student an iPod Touch could open up new possibilities in instruction, what might happen if entire desks functioned as interactive touchscreens?
That’s the technology a British company has developed, according to the Guardian UK. Designed to integrate technology into classrooms more easily — and literally — the large monitors can be used as both personal computers and multi-touch collaborative technology tools during class activities, and teachers can monitor all their students’ work at the same time from their own consoles. Developers say the screens keep kids engaged and help shy students and students with disabilities participate fully.
Currently in testing, the desks cost £8,000 — or about $14,000 — to produce, but developers hope to bring the price down to £1,000, or about $1,800, before offering them for use in schools. They hope to see the interactive desks installed in every British school in 10 years.
Can you imagine seeing these desks put to use in New York City’s classrooms? Or can you just imagine them ending up covered in 21st-century graffiti?
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