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To See a Brief PowerPoint Presentation of this Report, Go to http://www.msbarnett.com/Wireless.htm

"Our computers are disappearing.  No, this isn’t a doomsday prediction, merely a look at tomorrow’s desktop, where the computer we see may be a flat screen and a plug in the wall that accesses the CPU on a high-powered personal LAN.  When the computer ‘disappears’ in this way, all that will remain on our desktops are the peripherals that connect our hands, eyes and ears to the world of digital information" (Pavillard, Computer Dealer News, 1998).

For the last several years our computer monitors have been getting bigger and bigger.  Then a couple of years ago Sony unveiled WebTV, bypassing the computer by using the TV as the monitor when surfing the web.  Within the last two years DVD drives have started to replace CD-ROM drives on the upper end computers, most of which have direct outputs to TV’s.  About a year ago I purchased a 8MB TV/Video card for my computer, whereby I was able to use my TV as my computer monitor and vice-versa.  Now we are seeing more affordable big-screen TV’s and video projectors which have digital inputs/outputs in addition to analog I/O’s.

But no matter how sophisticated our "machines" become, we will always need a way to communicate with them.  In the past the communicative peripheral between us and the computer has been a keyboard and mouse.  For the TV it has been a remote control.  But now the two of them (remote control and keyboard/mouse) have combined into one unit, called a wireless keyboard.

The recently created wireless keyboard will play a key role in the transition from the computer to larger and flatter video viewing devices.  It is the job of Education Technology Leaders to be on the cutting edge of technology, and create innovative ways to use that technology for learning applications.  That is why I choose wireless keyboards for this study, because they can be used in so many ways in the classroom.

Synopsis of Wireless Keyboards.  About a year ago I purchased a wireless keyboard from Casco for only $70.  To the right is a picture of what it looks like.  Not only was it affordable, it is lightweight as well.  It has an integrated mouse built in (upper right).  This is Casco's infrared (IR) model, capable of transmitting and receiving signals up to 40 feet.  What I particularly like about this infrared keyboard is its wide transmitting area.  I can turn the keyboard up to 60° away from the receiving end without losing communication with the computer.  The receiving sensor has a 2-foot double cable which connects to the back of the computer in the normal PS/2 keyboard/mouse slots.

Casco also offers a wireless 102-key full keyboard which has the normal number pad on the right.  It only retails for $40. They also offer a wireless mouse which can double as a keyboard in the same way the alphanumeric numbers on a telephone work (see below).

The coolest feature which I like the most on this wireless keyboard is the additional hotkeys which can be used for virtually any function you wish to program them for.  My wireless keyboard has fourteen of these hotkeys, which can be programmed as short cuts for Internet access, search, e-mail messages, launching favorite programs, or for any multimedia functions—volume up, volume down, mute, play, stop, pause, ff, rewind, or eject.

The mouse function is currently being offered in three forms—trackball, touchpad, and batched keys.  All wireless keyboards are energized with either alkaline or lithium batteries, which may last as long as eight-months of regular use.

Some companies offer RF (radio frequency, 900 MHz) keyboard models as well, capable of transmitting/receiving signals up to 150 feet—through walls, doors, and windows.  A couple of the more popular companies where these can be purchased are Ultima Associates and EIO (see website chart below).

A disadvantage of using current TV’s as computer monitors has to do with small text viewing.  Since computers are digital, and TV’s are analog, any text you send from the computer to the TV will be blurry and unreadable if too small fonts are used.  The digital/analog converter hasn’t been perfected, and probably won’t be.  That is why many of the newer TV’s (mainly HDTV’s) and Video Projectors have both analog and digital input/output connections.  When high-definition TV monitors finally do arrive in affordable models over the next few years—capable of viewing 1920X1080 lines of resolution (equipped on 16X9 formatted screens), it is doubtful many of us will want to use the smaller, bulkier computer monitors any longer.

Educational Applications.  One of the immediate applications for wireless keyboards in education is the flexibility they would provide teachers/professors who use their computer (desktop or notebook) for classroom demonstration purposes.  Some teachers connect their computers to TV’s, overhead projectors, or video projectors.  However, they are always physically confined to the proximity of their computer because of the hard wire keyboard/mouse connection.  With a wireless keyboard, however, they would be free to roam about the room, speaking in a more comfortable position behind the students without interfering with their viewing line of sight.  If the video source is networked and located down the hallway from your classroom—where you have your computer attached—a RF wireless keyboard could be used to communicate with your home base computer, and still be able to provide the live demonstration you wish from your computer.

Another application for wireless keyboards is for handicapped students.  Many of them can’t use normal keyboards, and even those that can aren’t able to get underneath a desk.  ConceptKey out of England specializes in flat membrane, touch-control wireless keyboards.  With wireless keyboards like this, it can provide them the opportunity to use their computer in a non-handicapped manner.

Future Applications.  The future is where I see the greatest possibilities for wireless keyboards in education.  Consider going to a Keyboarding class in a few years, and instead of being assigned to a workstation crowded with a bulky computer and monitor, you are given a small desk and a wireless keyboard. In the front of the classroom a large, wide video-wall is displayed, segmented or divided into 30-frames (little TV’s).  One of those frames is yours, coded by the same number on your keyboard.  The teacher, also, has a wireless keyboard and walks around the room providing live visual demonstrations on how to use the program (keyboard, word-processing, spread sheets, etc.).  You are not distracted by this, because your eyes are focused toward the front of the class on the Video Wall.

When it comes time for you to practice your lesson assignment, all eyes are focused toward the video wall at the front.  For those students leading the way, you can quickly visually see either what you are doing wrong, or how to do it right by observing what others are doing. In this format, the teacher can immediate make corrections, or suggest good models to follow.  Of course, the down-side of this is shy or slow students might be more type-cast.  But it doesn’t have to be that way if the teacher and student peers are educated properly in respectful etiquette behavior.

What if a school in Podunk, Colorado, wanted to challenge a school in Germany on a certain project?  Communication during the project as well as their final presentations could be done live via the Internet, video walls, video cameras, and wireless keyboards.

How about connecting the most popular professors and teachers around the world to your own classroom?  In this scenario, the students might either be in their classrooms, or in a theater-type hall with a large video wall hanging from the ceiling.  The professor might be living in his/her chateau in southern France.  Via the Internet, they could teach live to millions of students at the same time.  No doubt they will be using a computer to demonstrate a variety of things, in which they will need a wireless keyboard to prevent being confined to one boring space (like a broadcast news person on TV).

Conclusions/Summary.  Technology continually offers abundant ways to teach and learn.  I love to think of more creative uses of technology to provide changing and non-static learning environments.  Someone has to lead the way in Educational Technology, or we stand the risk of sliding back into the same old boring traditional ways of teaching/learning in the past.  The future workplace demands we know how to apply technology to a variety of business applications when we get out of school.  Therefore, it behooves all of us ETL majors to implement technology in ways which will help our young people always remain competitive in the marketplace, both now and in the future.

Wireless Keyboards provide non-constricting ways of teaching and learning not available before.  Instantaneously teachers can move around the room and, by way of wireless keyboards combined with a video-wall, can correct and applaud several students at once—versus one-by-one inspection.  Someday voice recognition or other technologies will be perfected and developed, perhaps eliminating the need for keyboards and mice.  But in the meantime, with real-time audio-video becoming closer to reality for two-way communication, wireless keyboards will be the critical peripheral we will be using to connect people with machine.

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