As the fall quarter ends, student teams created presentations with added layers of context to demonstrate their work.
In Tanya Shashko's French class, students used one of the computers in class to give a high-level outline presentation. They complemented that presentation with specific examples that they drew from popular internet sites to demonstrate specific points. Having both the macro and micro view of a particular issue side-by-side was valuable for other students in the audience and also helped the instructor better assess how the presenting team was able to integrate several aspects of the content that was covered during the quarter.
In Russ Altman's Biomedical Informatics class, a student team used the three screens of the Peter Wallenberg Learning Tehater to show three different 'views' of their project that helps individuals build better family medical histories. While demonstrating their project the students could move seamlessly between the patient's view, the doctor's view, and a presentation that called out some specific points. After the presentation, the students said, "This was a much more challenging presentation to give but we feel like we could show more of our work in a shorter period of time."
When faculty and students ask about multiple screens I often say that 1+1 is more than 2; that is, the sum is greater than the parts because of the different kinds of learning activities that having multiple screens offer. With two side-by-side screens, presenters can compare materials, add context, analyze original and annotated documents. Using multiple screens requires more preparation certainly, but the benefits can quickly accrue to many.