Blog
Imed Bahri
Multimedia Language Lab
Visualiser / Document Camera
In a quick summary, “Visualiser” also called “Document Camera” and “Visual presenter” is a digital teaching tool that will allow instructors / students to display and share a much wider range of information to the whole class and bring lessons to life!
The visualiser/document camera is a cost-effective, time-saving, and easy-to-use ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) tool. Simply connect the visualiser/document camera with a projector or monitor or interactive whiteboard and just switch it on. All that’s left to do is to place the desired object under the camera.
Project and enlarge any object onto a big screen ...
A visualiser/document camera is an extremely flexible teaching tool which allows teachers or students to display just about anything from a piece of paper to a piano, in glorious color, or even a person in a room. You can point, annotate, zoom in and out, or get different views by turning the arm/camera-head of the visualiser/document camera. Its flexibility can also help to develop teachers’ and students’ creativities.
Why is the visualiser/document camera a favorite ICT tool for daily productive teaching? Because it is so simple to use for enriching lessons. Teachers do not need to waste their precious time on learning how to use this ICT tool so they can concentrate on planning lectures or spending more time with students.
Five Facts about Visualisers/Document Cameras
Using your visualiser to...
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Display a real object on a big screen and turn your classroom into a spontaneous and dynamic learning environment.
Enlarging an object improves students’ understanding of a concept, increases curiosity and reinforces teaching points. Also, all students are able to see what is being projected from any point in the class, which can reduce crowding and classroom management issues.
Clearly demonstrate practical skills...
Allow teachers to demonstrate practical skills to everyone at once, and be able to spend more time on those who need additional support.
Visualisers / Document Cameras help ensure improved comprehension of complex instructions.Students’ manual dexterity and fine motor skills are enhanced, including brushwork, cutting and sawing, through modeling the activities under the Visualiser / Document Camera!
Students are able to share their work on the board immediately, and show the rest of class what they have learned as well as the outcome of their understanding. Visualisers / Document Cameras truly enhance student involvement with the lessons as well as inspire creativity.
Teachers can easily zoom-in on LIVE objects and show their moving and minute features to students by using Visualisers / Document Cameras instead of playing an unexciting life-cycle movie. Showing real things can be the most impressive way of teaching.
Make your students come to the board and be more active with the class! Offer a new and better way of communication that can be developed between the teacher and the whole-class.
Use the magic of the Visualiser / Document Camera and turn mini beasts into massive monsters! Students are instantly engaged by the truly visual nature of the Visualiser / Document Camera.
Create an interactive class
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Bring your lessons to LIFE…
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The Visualiser / Document Camera can be a time&money saving tool that reduces the amount of lesson preparation activity, such as copying & printing and allows you to use delicate or costly resource items.
Think about how much time the teachers spend on downloading or searching for an image to use, or trying to photocopy a text into large scale. Many teaching materials are just around you, and they are real things even better than clip art. How about just placing them under the Visualiser / Document Camera ?
Save your precious time and money...
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The visualiser/document camera has a very different character from other ICT tools, which is that almost everything can be so spontaneously and flexibly put under its camera and shown to the class. The visualiser's/document camera's contents are not only artworks or digital images but also anything LIVE or ALIVE. The visualiser/document camera is working excellent with other ICT tools; and also in a real sense, the visualiser/document camera lets other ICT tools come alive.