MANAGING ICT Product review


ICT Review: Smart Document Camera “SDC 330” Terry Portch, head of geography All Saints Catholic School and Technology College, Dagenham


T


HIS IS an impressive piece of kit, and has huge potential in the classroom. I have been trialling the smart camera in my classroom, using it with a variety of geography classes. The SDC 330 is designed to


work with the Smart Technologies interactive whiteboard, and plugs into a PC or laptop via a USB port (and your PC will need to be connected to a digital projector and the whiteboard). However, it does require its own power supply, and you need to download the software from Smart’s website. The SDC 330 boasts a range of connectivity,


including VGA In and VGA Out ports, composite port, HDMI port and of course a USB port. It can be connected to more than just a PC/laptop, but for this trial, I was using it with my PC, so only needed the USB port. The SDC 330 also has a slot for SD memory cards, and can be used to project images from that as well. The SDC 330 is a rather compact unit, and the


“neck” that holds the camera folds down for easy storage. It can easily be positioned forwards and back to display whatever is shown underneath, but the whole unit needs to be moved for left/right. There is an auto-focus to enhance the image, and the ability to zoom in and out to show appropriate detail. There is also a LED light which can be used if the image is too dark. The clarity of the image is excellent, with the zoom able to pick up very fine detail. It was easy to set up and install the SDC 330, and


within five minutes of first opening the packaging, I was able to start using it (by running the downloaded software, and plugging the SDC 330 into my PC via a USB port). The software enables the camera to display what


it sees onto the interactive whiteboard, and it can be used in conjunction with Smart’s “Notebook”


software to “capture” the image from the camera which can then be annotated using the interactive whiteboard. The SDC 330 has practical use for education, in


a variety of ways. For example, a year 10 class had completed a case study question on water management. One student in particular had written an outstanding answer, and I used it as an example of a model answer. I used the SDC 330 to project his actual work for all to see. This enabled discussion around what he had written. Using the “capture” tool on the Smart Notebook


software, I was able to take a snapshot of his work, and it could then be annotated to show the key features of his model answer, for the benefit of all students. The software for the camera itself does not allow for the “live” image to be annotated on an interactive whiteboard, so needs to be used in conjunction with Smart’s Notebook software. However, as the software is designed to integrate with all of Smart’s other software and hardware, the joined use is a straightforward one. As mentioned, the quality of the picture that the


SDC 330 captures and displays is good. A year 9 class was struggling with how to draw scatter graphs, so I used the camera to show the exact dimension. Using the zoom on the camera, I was able to display a piece of graph paper so that the smaller, finer lines were visible on the whiteboard. I then drew out the graph on the piece of paper, and


the students were able to see exactly how to draw one, how long each axis should be, and how I was plotting the data. By being able to see a “work in progress”, the students quickly understood how to draw a scatter graph, and I found it a much more effective means than drawing one on the board. Perhaps the most exciting prospect is


the “Mixed Reality” aspect. By displaying certain shapes below the camera (these were provided by Smart), the camera then projected onto the whiteboard full 3D images (a skeleton, a swimming fish and a molecular structure). This certainly fascinated my year 8 form.


If a bank of these


3D images could be developed (a castle for history, a volcano for geography etc) then the potential for the SDC 330 would be immense. The images I had could only be seen from a top-down perspective, which does limit their use – being able to manipulate and rotate the images would only increase the potential for interactive learning using the SDC 330. In summary, the quality of the


picture and ease of use for the camera are its main advantages (no need for time-consuming scanners to show a piece of text, photo and so on, just project it up straight away), but needs to be used in conjunction with Smart’s other software packages for its full potential to be realised.


SecEd Further information


The Smart Document Camera “SDC 330” retails at £419.


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