Test Drive: AVerMedia AVerVision 330

Document Camera

By Jeffrey Hastings -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2005

AVerMedia U.S.A. 423 Dixon Landing Road Milpitas, CA 95035 (408) 263-3828
www.avermedia-usa.com $1,499.99.

There's nothing new under the sun. I've always believed that oft-quoted biblical maxim applies to most of the new digital technologies that are marketed to educators. So, aren't document cameras just the glorified offspring of the trusty old overhead projector? Well, maybe. Just don't tell that to the colleagues with whom I shared the AVerMedia 330. They loved it.

Though the 330 merely blends existing technologies in a novel configuration, teachers reacted as if this compact piece of equipment had been dropped, heaven-sent, directly from the gilded workbench of the ghost of Thomas Edison.

The AVerMedia 330 lets you present flat or 3-D objects through a monitor or digital projector in real time and also lets you save and transfer those images to and from an SD or Compact Flash Card, or your PC. Though a document camera has other uses, teachers commonly use it in tandem with a projector for one simple purpose: to show intricate techniques and small specimens on a big screen to large classes that would otherwise not see them clearly. That's enough to excite practitioners in lots of disciplines.

"[The 330] easily saved me 50 percent of the time I'd spend just showing the class how to do this," gushes Amy Kilgren, a life skills teacher. She recently used the device to show her culinary arts students how to fashion a fancy turtle garnish from a single apple.

Our science teachers were enthusiastic about using the AVerMedia 330 for their routine demonstrations and, especially, for sharing their most minuscule subject matter with the help of the available microscope adapter. As an illustrated book lover, I liked the unit for presenting picture books and would highly recommend that school librarians consider using it, too.

So, will this document camera eventually replace the traditional overhead projector? Perhaps, but at a cost. When combined with a projector, the price exceeds that of a standard overhead projector by a multiple of 10 or more. But for those educators who really need it, it would be well worth having a setup or two available to share.