Classroom Presenter is a software package designed by a team from the University of Washington’s Computer Science and Engineering department, led by Professor Richard Anderson. Richard developed the original program whilst on sabbatical with Microsoft Research.

Classroom Presenter is a system designed for use on tablet PCs that enables the instructor and teacher to exchange information using digital ink. Classroom Presenter attempts to combine the functionality of presentation software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, with interactive whiteboard style instruction. The next version promises features associated with personal response or voting systems.

The instructor and students using Tablet PCs are connected via wireless technology and this enables slides to be displayed on the students’ Tablet PCs and for the students to respond to the slides interactively using digital ink with their responses being fed back to the instructor who can see all the responses in slide-strip format. The submissions by the students are anonymous, unless the student chooses to identify themselves. The instructor’s tablet would normally be connected to a large data display, so that responses can be shown to all students in the class, if desired. Instructors find it particularly useful to show incorrect responses as this lets them deal with misconceptions as they occur immediately, for the benefit of the entire class.

The ability to respond using drawing using digital ink as opposed to merely text is unique to Tablet PCs and is one area that highlights the active learning advantages that Classroom Presenter offers.

Classroom Presenter is freely available from the project home page, which also includes links to papers, getting started guides and other related resources. The latest version (CP3) is robust although it is still an ongoing research project and the developers are actively seeking feedback from any users.

Classroom Presenter project home page: http://classroompresenter.cs.washington.edu/

Video of Classroom Presenter showing basic functionality and pedagogical features: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/anderson/Presenter_1M.wmv