Bringing Technology to the Classroom

At a recent, first-time meeting for users of ICTP's automated classroom recording system openEyA, a clear picture emerged of how this innovate technology is revolutionizing traditional classroom teaching.

"OpenEyA dramatically changes the way students study," said meeting participant Armando Pisani, a teacher who installed openEyA in a classroom to record lectures in algebra and calculus. He said that the recordings provide a new, effective option for students to review and learn new concepts.  "Students like the fact that with openEyA, they can re-listen to classroom lectures at home, and it helps increase their level of understanding," he explained.

Enrique Canessa, who together with colleagues Carlo Fonda and Marco Zennaro in ICTP's Science Dissemination Unit developed the EyA system, said that the team were pleasantly surprised at how openEyA users are customizing the flexible tool for their own needs. He gave as an example, "Some users in Portugal have adapted a low-cost, optic lens that provides an improved focus for better output quality."

Canessa added that thanks to the meeting, SDU is developing a wish list that they will refer to when planning upgrades to the EyA product. One such upgrade under consideration is to have a liveEyA version of the software that allows the live transmission of scientific events over the internet; SDU also will soon have an OpenEyA version for Macintosh computers.

Another new area for openEyA will be its use on smartphones; to that end, SDU will deploy new versions of the software for Android and iOS phones.

Discussions during the last part of the openEyA users meeting focussed on multilingual content issues, specifically on how to create a repository of openEyA-recorded educational materials already available in Spanish and Portuguese. "Through our participating institutions, we have more than 400 hours of complete courses," said Canessa. He explained that the materials will be collected and stored on a web portal titled "Didactica para el Desarrollo" (didactic development), or DxD.tv. "This repository will preserve the cultural diversity of recordings made in different languages," said Canessa.