A Bright Future for Education - The Collaboration Wall

The public is fascinated by the new technology of the giant screen used by CNN to report on election results. This cutting edge technology was also used to teach us how a projected winner is determined. They accomplished this by displaying current election results on a giant screen with the capabilities of a computer monitor combined with a mouse-click, known as the "Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall" developed by Jeff Han. The screen is manipulated by tapping a finger on a particular section which brings up another screen of information.

Homeschoolers and educators of all genres are wishing for a screen similar to the one used by CNN. A little research shows that a scaled down version of this technology is already available on the iPhone and that Microsoft is working on their own version. Steven Spielberg had Tom Cruise demonstrate a similar technique in the movie "Minority Report" in 2002. Carnegie Melon's Human Computer Interactive Institute has a Ph.D. student, Johnny Chung Lee, who has taken on the project of incorporating this technology into Wii.

The Collaboration Wall could improve education and eventually replace textbooks. As a former homeschooler, I am anxious to acquire this technology. Developing this collaboration wall to the fullest could provide the most educated, inspired and successful group of graduates America has ever produced - and that could change the world.

The student version is smaller than the one used at CNN. It is connected to databases specifically for education, and includes cable television and Internet access. Users pay a monthly fee for services, which makes it an affordable alternative that serves many purposes covering home, school and business needs. Participants enter their work on individual workstations connected to the Collaboration Wall.

Imagine the excitement of teaching or learning from resources available to multiple viewers by one large screen, such as constantly updated encyclopedias and a repository database of updated books, instead of outdated textbooks which are costing the education system a small fortune. Imagine happy taxpayers who are excited to be funding such innovative techniques that can produce capable and optimistic graduates with a mind for the future.

Imagine ALL students having access to current events streamed live into the classroom, as well as television shows from quality producers such as PBS, National Geographic, the History Channel and the Discovery Channel using TiVo technology presented via this collaboration wall.

The multi-touch collaboration wall can change the face of television, phones and other things in the very near future. It's time to take our students along with us on this fabulous ride and not leave them behind as a final frontier. The Collaboration Wall can make learning exciting and fun.

One success story is all we need. It would behoove any one of these great companies to step out and develop this innovative technology for use at schools in one of their own communities, which can then be presented as a successful example to enhance the future of our children.