What sets the Lightsmith system apart from other presentation technologies are the additional benefits of having a camcorder in the classroom.  As Gary Stager explains in his article “The Digital Video Revolution,” digital video has the potential to reshape classroom learning. Today’s students think and learn in different ways than students of the past, and they need different learning tools. Digital video gives students the multisensory format they require to process information and apply their knowledge in exciting ways. Even students who are hard to engage by traditional classwork are energized by multimedia projects.
 
Students need little convincing to try a video project—more often, it is a matter of convincing their teachers.  What many classroom teachers don’t realize is that most of the work has already been done for them! A large community of digital video enthusiasts have worked out all the steps of the process, written lesson plans and correlations, posted downloadable worksheets and rubrics, and produced tutorials that are available for free.

Not only that, but we've found that virtually all schools already own camcorders and computers with powerful video editing software on them.  Most commonly there are only two things missing--an inexpensive FireWire card to connect the computer to the camcorder, and a little bit of training. To help your video program hit the ground running, be sure to visit our extensive list of Digital Video web links.