Based out of Dubai, UAE, Manish Bakshi is responsible for BenQ’s Operations in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa past 20 years. It was in 2000 that Bakshi joined Acer Communication and Multimedia, which changed to BenQ on 5th December 2001. Since then, Bakshi has been managing a cross-functional team and a business line in a multicultural context with the required competencies in strategic thinking and interpersonal communication as a co-founder of the ACM office for the META region. Under Bakshi’s leadership, BenQ MEA has brought the brand to more than 90 per cent awareness level in 20 years’ time and reached first, second and third position within the industry in most focus countries of the MEA region. He won the “Country of Year” award in the year 2005, the year 2006, the year 2008 and consecutively 2011 & 2012 for BenQ globally. The accolade was re rewarded in 2019 too.
Technology can and is transforming teaching and education; there’s no doubt about it. The days of schools having a separate computer lab that students had limited access to are long gone. Instead, redesigned learning spaces are taking over, and today, every classroom needs to be a smart classroom. The smartest EdTech element of any classroom today is its projector system – a visual learning tool that takes education to an entirely different level like never imagined in traditional classrooms. Smart projectors are not just tools to make taking classes easier for teachers; they make every lesson significantly impactful, make much better use of class time, and place student learning at the core of every activity.
Educators, professors, and teachers across the globe share challenges today – all of which can be resolved easily by integrating smart projectors into their teaching methods. A majority of teaching professionals complain about the lack of an adequate collaborative tool that can enable students to work together better and seamlessly; a large number of them feel an insufficiency of simplified storage tools that can store teaching material and student data in one place, and a number of them feel a dire need for more and better file-sharing tools that can allow multiple users to use or work on the same thing simultaneously. A smart and contemporary projection system can combat all these challenges and bring incredible value to classrooms for students as well. Here are some ways in which projectors are elevating the quality of classroom education:
Transforming the teaching methodology itself:
Smart Projectors today come with inbuilt memory and storage while giving a free hand to the teachers to download the APK files as per the requirement of the school without any hassle. Easy access to video conferencing apps and other educational apps allows them to unlock all the features they bring with them. Smart projectors come with many superior features that can amplify the learning experience as a whole. For example, BenQ projectors come with an X-Sign Broadcast system wherein messages can be broadcasted on one projector or group of projectors from anywhere in the world and removes the need for installing any PA system in schools.
Boosting in-class engagement to unlock improved learning:
Interactive projection systems can take the teaching-learning process to another level altogether. Studies suggest that students are encouraged to attempt to solve problems independently instead of looking at the answers when using collaborative learning tools. They are excited to solve the problem collaboratively and independently instead of wanting to solve it ahead of their classmates (in a hurried or unfair manner). Projectors also ensure that everyone in the class gets an equal and clear view of what is being taught by the teacher, encouraging them to pay more attention.
Providing a wide range of digital mediums
Paper worksheets are passé – smart and interactive projectors significantly increase student engagement by giving them the fun learning opportunity to participate in presentations, quizzes, games, and other group activities together. It’s easier for teachers, too, as they can always prepare these different lesson plan elements in advance and just present them by plugging their USB into the projector. Account Management System (AMS) capabilities in projectors allow them to access and manage the teaching material that they can save in their Google Drive and One Drive and access from Projector in classrooms. In addition, projectors make blended learning and working on individual personal devices much easier as they allow for better visual demonstrations of new concepts that everyone can access, no matter where they are learning from, school or home.
Amplifying classroom productivity like never before:
Interactive classroom projectors save time for both teachers and students – they give teachers the luxury of not having to write everything on the board and students the freedom to not write everything down. Projectors also substantially reduce distraction for the students as there aren’t many windows for them to disrupt the class flow. With collaborative features, teachers can also involve students in devising lesson plans and take student engagement to new heights.
Providing an impactful and interactive learning experience:
Through projectors, students are able to learn substantially more they can with just text and images in textbooks via multimedia visualization. Imagine using Google Earth for a geography lesson, watching an informational visual of how a seed becomes a fruit, witnessing a time in history through a documentary, and more. The possibilities are endless with projectors in classrooms. From using webcam functionalities to get in touch with teachers and classmates to clarify doubts to streaming videos to learn some complex information mentioned in their lessons quickly, there’s so much that students can do with smart learning that projectors amplify even more.
Offering much more enhanced teaching versatility and value:
The use of a projector in the classroom allows teachers to step away from the blackboard and access a plethora of better learning opportunities for their students. With smart projectors, teachers can use a variety of videos, infographics, tools, and information to clarify the doubts of their students. Moreover, projectors make each lesson much more valuable as teachers then spend less time repeating and rewriting the same information again and again. BenQ’s smart projectors come with a built-in Firefox Web browser along with WPS Office and are equipped with a Device Management Solution (DMS) that allows the IT staff to easy remote access and control them remotely while the Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware updates ensure minimal maintenance.
Innovative education projectors are equipping both students and teachers with better technology to create advanced teaching and learning experiences. Teachers who use them can feel an apparent difference as they can host much more interactive and collaborative lessons while students are able to imbibe and learn much more in the same amount of time.