- Preface
- I. A new era
- • Globalization, the first sign of change
- • English - the new planetary language
- • A change in the scale of education
- II. Education and its context
- • Education and business
- • Education and the state
- III. The digital habit
- • The new digital culture
- • Digital projects
- • Time for assimilation
- IV. The extended school
- • Education at a critical moment
- • A definition of the extended school
- • Yesterday: concentrated knowledge
- • Today: knowledge disseminated
- • Tomorrow: knowledge connected
- V. New tools and old
- • Chalk and blackboard
- • The spinning globe
- • Microscopic life
- • Desk and work
- • The computer garden
- • Slides and liquid Crystal
- • Projectors and projections
- • Dry and digital copies
- VI. Digital transition
- • Continuing education
- • Cultural exchange
- • The mental switch
- • Critical thought
- • Internal communication
- • Educational frontier posts
- • Technological updating
- • Creativity and deregulation
- VII. Means and ends
- • Values for today and for always
- • Technocentrality and consumerism
- • Software in the public domain
- VIII. The digital library
- • Atoms versus bits
- • The dual book
- • Digital quality
- • Reading and writing
- • Text and hypertext
- • Consult and navigate
- IX. The home computer
- • A new piece of furniture or a new instrument?
- • Playthings and electronic toys
- • Robots for assembly
- • The silent printer
- • The community network
- X. New instruments of thought
- • Word processors, a new way of writing
- • A friendly mouse
- • More portable learning
- • Designing with computers
- • The golden link in communications: the modem
- • Electronic mail always arrives at its destination
- • Fax, a threatened species
- • WWW: three magic letters
- • Reliable and accessible data bases
- • Tables, abacus and spreadsheet
- • The Scanner, a bridge between two worlds
- • New interfaces and old keyboards
- • Presentation aids
- • So-called multimedia
- • Digital cameras without film
- • Digital videos in schools
- • Music for all
- XI. Presence and remote presence
- • Features of distance education
- • The three generations
- • Synchronous and asynchronous moments
- • Spaces for meeting
- • Classrooms open to the world
- • The advantages
- • New educational niches
- • A new type of teacher and student
- XII. Talents and handicaps
- • The right to communication
- • The obstacle of the keyboard
- • The obstacle of the screen
- • The expression of individual talent
- Conclusions
V. NEW TOOLS AND OLD
Projectors and projections
Other standard technologies used in teaching include the projection of slides and audio-visual material. For many years systems for the projection of 35 mm photographs in black and white or color fulfilled a significant roles in classrooms and lecture halls. This technology enables the presentation of collections of many images ordered sequentially which can be remotely controlled either manually or using pre-programmed automated circuits. Many educational establishments have huge collections of slides, placed in straight or circular holders that are not always easy to manipulate, load and unload.
This system was improved a few years back with the incorporation of audio-visual technology that worked wonders with the integration of sound and image. However, today a new generation of audio-visual resources has appeared, multimedia based on the technology of digital projectors and CD-ROM's which have opened up a new field with an impact on education that could be incalculable. CD-ROM's can hold thousands of photographs and images in movement, as well as sounds. Their cost is minimal when compared to the information contained on previous audiovisual systems. Digitized images do not rub out or deteriorate. In addition they are easy to handle, as access to each image is immediate and can be controlled from a computer program. Presentations are more flexible, in particular when the teacher has generated his or her own CD-ROM. Information can be stored on a computer hard disk, (which currently have an even greater capacity than a CD-ROM) so that the necessary changes can be made. The greatest advantage is that optic disks are highly resistant and easily transportable. Students can navigate the CD after class, either individually or as a group, going over the contents and learning them. In the near future these inquiries will be made directly via the network.
