Imagine you are typing your comments when you are not connected to your computer. Imagine you can type away on any flat surface at any time in any place. Imagine you can pass the keyboard around to anyone else who you want to type a message to your computer. Imagine grabbing the attention of a student so disaffected by school that she now comes in every day (rather than skip lessons every day) to use the keyboard and share her skills and thrills with her peers. Imagine, after all this, you then switch the keyboard off, slip it into your pocket, smile, and walk away for another day.
With financial support from my Gatsby Teacher Fellowship and Heinemann Education, I bought an i-Tech Dynamic Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard to do all of the above. Slightly wider than a standard whiteboard pen, the virtual keyboard works by combining infrared and laser technology and projects (or sprays!) a full-size QWERTY keyboard on to any surface. It really works, and even clicks when you type. You just tap the images of the keys and the characters appear on the screen of your choice. The virtual keyboard communicates via Bluetooth which gives great opportunities to use the keyboard with desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, pocket computers and smartphones.
I allow my students to spray the keyboard on to any flat surface, and the most popular ones are tables, colour card, their own A4 poster, and we have used it on the classroom floor and on the wall.
Yet its uses go beyond classrooms as it can be used outdoors, in public places, in sterile and medical environments, industrial places, banks, shops, on transport and it will surely be picked up in gaming consoles, exhibitions, media, trade fairs and theme parks.
The virtual keyboard can be easily and safely passed around the class so anyone you want to type in can do so, with the image appearing, say, on a big interactive screen. You can’t lose or break any keys, you don’t have to worry much about storage, it comes in its own protective case, it’s pretty robust, and it’s great in the dark.
It weighs in at 80g, with dimensions of 90x34x24mm and hits the pocket at under £100. But the impression it gives is hugely beyond all this - it’s novel, exciting, engaging, inspiring, charming, practical, safe, secure, cute and user friendly. The ICT staff love it, the students always want it, the finance people adore it, and the teachers get that extra engagement, excitement and buzz a good class should give.
