Many students need a combination of auditory sound and visual cues to fully understand and retain material. With traditional classroom tools, teachers were often only able to engage one of those two senses. Technology continues to improve and is making great headway in creating a dynamic classroom that better supports learning. Classroom audiovisual (AV) is one of these areas where the technology is rapidly developing to make education better for teachers and students alike.

What are early childhood, K-12, and higher education institution’s most pressing needs?

In all areas of education, teachers need audiovisual equipment that is going to improve the way they present lessons to their students. Their laptops and other technology should be able to sync directly to a large screen. This simple move would allow them to minimize the amount of planning time they need to take. While this technology has been available for quite some time, teachers need the visuals and the handwriting functions to drastically improve.

They need AV tools to help them encourage engagement and collaboration on various projects. When the technology is simple to use, students are more apt to come to the board to participate. They might even work together to create projects that should be displayed at the front of the room with this audiovisual edtech.

How can edtech companies meet these needs?

Edtech companies need to truly assess what the classroom needs. They can begin by developing interactive whiteboards with better software, graphics, and handwriting capabilities. However, companies need to keep in mind that all of this AV technology must be user-friendly. Teachers don’t have much time to sit around while attempting to get the technology to work during a lesson.

What are the 3 major companies that operate in this space?

If your classroom needs more audiovisual technology, here are just a few items you may want to consider.

• ActivPanel: ActivPanel provides a new approach to an interactive whiteboard that is far more advanced and user-friendly than the first models. Their design is meant to mimic a tablet that resides at the front of the classroom. It offers better visuals and a more natural writing experience for everyone.
• MC Squares: Help students to collaborate and display their work with MC Squares. These miniature whiteboards allow students to fill out their own information, design, or response to a discussion. When they’re finished, the boards join together to create one large whiteboard on the wall where everyone’s MC Square will be displayed.
• SMART Boards: Offer your students an interactive way to approach learning and motivate them to come to the board for math and science lessons. SMART Boards are an excellent way to help encourage classroom participation and effortlessly sync your items from the computer to the board.