Introduction to Future-Talk

More than a year ago, I had the privilege to travel to the headquarters of Texas Instruments (TI) in Plano, TX. The occasion was guided by the notion of assembling a four leading school districts, gaining a glimpse of the future of projector technology in the classroom, and engaging in an actionable pilot using some of these future technologies. You see, TI makes the famed DLP chips that are part of projectors in classrooms and movie theaters across the country. TI doesn’t make the projector, itself—but they do own a voice in the technical fabric of what projectors have been able to do and will be able to do in the future.

This is no small enterprise, by the way. Largely recession proof, growth in the educational projector market represents the largest, most profitable, and most promising part of TI’s business for the foreseeable future.

In this blog I plan to address, in an educational context, the question: “What will the future of projector technology bring to teaching and learning?”  We begin with 3D.

2011 Update: This blog first appeared in the last month of 2009. It has experienced a wonderful following, but was constrained by a restrictively managed SharePoint hosting environment. In January, 2011, I began the arduous process of moving this blog to an environment that is more participatory and media-resource friendly. In doing so, I have updated all of the original posts to make them immediately relevant to the reader.  This compelling through lines of the “3D in education story” are thus preserved, while February 1, 2011 marks the continuation of an amazing educational story. Please join me in this journey of discovery.

All readers are encouraged to contribute, question, and imagine by taking an active role in this blog.