@hack1of2 wrote:

For those of you that were at the WGA event last weekend at Horicon Marsh – Cachers & Cattails, did you notice that digital presenter gizmo that Jim was able to use to show the lost cache pictures? Wow! I had never seen one of those before. I looked it up online and it’s a bit out of my price range; only $2,700. But I was really amazed at that great piece of technology. It made our event all the more interesting!

Yep every classroom here at UW-Stout has a digital projector like that. All one has to do is attach a laptop to it and they can present anything they want.

I wasn’t able to attend, but might I offer an interesting idea and purchase for the WGA. When you say digital presenter, I assume you are referring to the unit that looks like what many people may refer to as looking like the old overhead projector. I have used these in the past and they have wonderful features but are limited to the room in which they are located, generally an ITV room or classroom.

Might I suggest that the WGA look in to the purchase of a LCD Projector?

Cost? A few hundred dollars and up. The one I use regularly is in the ball bark of 5-$600. Many schools and Tech Colleges will loan these out.

What is it? It’s a projector that can be hooked up to a laptop and used anywhere you go, with or without internet access. Anything you have on your laptop can be presented against a wall or screen. WI-FI increases the possibilities of what you can present.

Why? Let me try to help you visualize some situations.
1. WGA gathering, a power point presentation that loops which has a collection of previous gatherings and all those great photos projected on a wall or screen.
2. GEO 101 class, new geocachers are gathered in a room, instructor is able to walk them thru step by step procedure on how to-use your GPS, use various sites, create a cache, you name it. The students can bring up the site on their own laptop if they have one with; and watch the step-by-step procedure on a projector screen rather then laptop screen. And many other possibilities.

Zuma has possibly already used one of these at the Tech College and many others may be well aware of the possibilities. Might be an idea to bring up at the Board Meeting.

Wausau schools do not loan or rent out equipment, see board policy If you want to use it in the district for events there is a charge as a a/v person has to be there. In casual conversation with other districts this is starting to become more the norm.

While the challenges for keeping a device like this in the right spot at the right time and in good shape are big I’d also say its not a bad idea to consider it and write out guidelines on its use and storage.

@northwoods Tom wrote:

@rsplash40 wrote:

Wausau schools do not loan or rent out equipment. If you want to use it in the district for events there is a charge as a a/v person has to be there. In casual conversation with other districts this is starting to become more the norm.

While the challenges for keeping a device like this in the right spot at the right time and in good shape are big I’d also say its not a bad idea to consider it and write out guidelines on its use and storage.

This is going to be more common in larger school districts and more so in the smaller in the future. It truly is unfortunate. Our districts philosophy tries to follow the community pays the taxes to support the school so we support the organizations in the community.

Where are all the WGA possessions kept now? Maybe this is an item to be kept in the hands of the GEO 101 presenters? How about one of the board members? Just trying to think out loud here… Do any other members see the benefits outweighing the drawbacks?

Is this a can of worms we want to close instead?

Sometimes cans of worms need to be opened.

One of the big issues that the next board is going to need to address is storage of our equipment. We now have quite a bit of cooking equipment, and it is spread out over a wide area. We need to identify a single storage location.

As far as the projector goes, this is a pretty good idea. Like you say, we could use it for geo 101 and 201 presentations. Issues to look at prior to purchase would be where to keep it, and how to prevent it from getting busted in shipping.

z

A projecter would work well for presentations where the lights can be dimmed, but to be useful at an event, it would need to overcome ambient lighting. That’ll take a more expensive projector. Just something to think about.

With 42″ class monitors now in the $500 range, and with MUCH better picture quality, this might be a way to go also…