New Horizons School, part of the Orenda Education Charter School District in Texas, has installed BenQ's short-throw interactive projectors in its classrooms. BenQ's interactive short-throw education projectors enhance learning with multitouch interactivity and outstanding picture quality and brightness.

"There's so much opportunity to do more with our students," said Shelley Williams, New Horizons' principal. "These projectors are helping to create a sense of belonging, independence, and mastery in the classroom. We're seeing more engagement, which encouraged more attendance. And for the first time ever, our students are passing assessment testing and are on the pathway to academic success."

The school serves 100 students — ages 5 to 17 — from kindergarten through high school who reside at New Horizons Ranch, a residential treatment center for at-risk youth. Because of the nature of the kids' background, the organization's curriculum is tailored to make the most of classroom time and help the kids transition to the next chapter in their education. BenQ's MW826ST short-throw interactive projector provides the school with an affordable display solution that helps engage every student while also helping kids master technology that they would face in the future.

The projector is designed to enhance interactive learning and classroom collaboration with outstanding picture quality, high brightness, and short-throw capability. Providing up to a 120-inch interactive work surface, the projector produces 3,400 high ANSI lumen brightness and WXGA resolution for perfect projection performance. Every image and every letter of text is crisp enough to see in every part of the classroom. The short-throw-projector series also features DLP technology, providing long-lasting picture quality that ensures the best total cost of ownership (TCO).

Designed with teachers in mind, it features simple operation and a deep toolbox to help students commit information to memory. This includes PointWrite, which transforms any surface or wall into a collaborative surface; infrared technology that detects multiple finger or object movements; multitouch technology that allow multiple students to work at once; QWrite annotation software that enables multi-user on-screen collaboration with tools to edit, highlight, and co-create various documents that can be saved and shared with students; and templates to easily build exercises and lessons. Mobile High-Definition Link provides quick and easy connection to a growing number of devices with an HDMI cable or wireless streaming via BenQ's QCast wireless dongle. Ready for BYOD classroom collaboration, up to four mobile devices can stream content to the screen at the same time. With the included wall-mount and smart setup and calibration features, installation is incredibly simple, taking less than half an hour from start to finish.

BenQ's innovative SmartEco technology furthers TCO benefits by intelligently adjusting light output and conserving energy saving capabilities without compromising brightness or quality. This technology extends lamp life by up to 15,000 hours — three times the normal lamp life. An Eco Blank mode further increases energy savings by automatically dimming lamp power when blank. Together, these features make it a cost-effective and bright investment for students' futures.

Since installing the projectors in the fall, the school has seen an incredible response from staff and students. For the first time, staff is able to create curriculum that addresses the capabilities of the students and gets them excited for their future. Teachers are using Istation's richly animated, game-like educational tools and Kahoot as well as a classroom response system to encourage student attention and participation. The science teacher is using it to build virtual labs, opening up a safe and entertaining way for kids to learn beyond the borders of the classroom.

"Display technology is an exciting component of a student's learning environment," said Bob Wudeck, senior director, business, education, and CinePro solutions at BenQ America Corp. "BenQ is committed to ensuring our interactive projector solutions have all the right features to make teaching and learning fun and engaging. Seeing New Horizons' students reach new levels of achievement in their education is what drives BenQ's innovative edtech solutions."

The Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Alaska, Anchorage  (UAA) has taken delivery of Ayrton GHIBLI fixtures, Ayrton's first LED spot luminaire with a factory-equipped framing system. ACT Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.

GHIBLI delivers a light output of 23,000 lumens in a highly compact format.  Its proprietary optical system produces an extremely uniform fat beam with no hot spot. GHIBLI's selection of gobos and colors was made in collaboration with lighting designers to meet the needs of the entertainment industry.

Professor Daniel J. Anteau, the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance whose specialty is lighting design, had been looking to introduce cutting-edge LED moving head fixtures to use in UAA's Main Stage and Harper Studio Theatre. He saw GHIBLI online, inquired about the new light's capabilities and sought out GHIBLI users.

"I wanted to know if it was as amazing as it appeared online," said Anteau.  "It seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Users told me how GHIBLI compared to other fixtures I knew. That gave me a lot of confidence moving forward."

Since his department does a mix of theatrical and dance performances it needed an LED moving head that could be "a bit of a hybrid," Anteau said, "something with vibrant colors, lots of great textures, movement, and effects often associated with dance and musicals on one hand, and something with a great shutter system, control over the CTO and the ability to be more subtle and nuanced."

GHIBLI offers a number of features that attracted Anteau. "I love the idea of full framing shutters; they're essential for theatrical use since neither of our stages is a proscenium venue and everything hits the stage at odd angles.  GHIBLI has a really fantastic zoom. Although our two venues are relatively short throws, with the wide-angle zoom that can focus most of the way through it, which is very helpful. I also love the two different frost filters and the variety of colors - not just the poppy, gaudy ones but subtle, tinted colors too."

Anteau intends to share the GHIBLIs between UAA's two stages. Although students have just returned for the new school year the GHIBLIs have already been used by Alaska's newest professional theater company, CAZART, on a production of "Lungs" by Duncan Macmillan with lighting design by UAA student James Kendall.

"The department's new season will run from October 2018 to May 2019, and I anticipate the GHIBLIs will be utilized on every production we do," said Anteau. "I expect heavy usage for 'Playhouse Creatures,' which opened October 26."

"I see the GHIBLIs as a bit of a recruiting tool for us, too," said Anteau.  He believes the GHIBLI fixtures will prove to be "quite accessible for the students. With very little experience they can jump on a console and start creating amazing effects. "I'm thinking of putting one in the lobby during our productions and programming a little sequence to generate interest with the audience. I want the campus population to come see and play with the GHIBLIs. I'm very excited for our students in Alaska to get their hands on this cutting-edge technology." 

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