Mobile-phone based interactive whiteboards using WiiMotes?
Is this all we’ll need in the future for interactive presentations?
Excited blog posts and Twitter-comments have been flying back-and-forth across the edublogosphere this week. Why? Because it’s now possible to build a cheap interactive whiteboard using the controller from a Nintendo Wii.
I first came across the idea via Mr Platts’ blog which links to the video by Johnny Chung Lee below. Since then, CoolCatTeacher Vicki Davis has done her usual high-quality synthesis job on what’s out there. As she’s a bit of a beacon, the comments section looks like it’s going to be useful.
What I think everyone’s missed, however, is the fact that mobile phones are due to have projectors built into them in the very near future. This would be an awesome system. You could roll up to do an interactive presentation with nothing but a mobile phone, WiiMote and IR pen. Even better, buy several of the latter and students could use their own phones to do the projecting! I really do think someone needs to set up a web store selling those custom-built infra-red pens. I’d buy one. 😀
Further Reading:
- WiiLearn – a wiki about building and using WiiMote-based Interactive Whiteboards
- Johnny Chung Lee’s website
- WiiMoteProject.com – discusses various uses of WiiMote for projects
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- Wiimote repurposed for multi-point interactive whiteboard [via Zemanta]
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I think eventually, the Wiimote will be phased out of this sort of thing too. If the phone is going to have a projector in it (way cool btw! – I’d love to see more about that) why not stick the IR camera in the phone too… I think the coolest part about this is that a game controller has been hacked by the broader community, and they have taken the Wiimote further than anyone at Nintentdo ever dreamed. Very “flat world” if you ask me.