Campus Technology recently posted an interesting article discussing the usage of FarSightNet software at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston. This interactive document software engages students in hands-on problem-solving activities in classes like physics and astronomy.

Jeff Brenner, the quasi-retired professor who wrote the FarSightNet software several years ago under his company name, SpaceTimeLinks LLC, asserts, “Too many people are delivering lectures with lovely PowerPoint presentations. There’s nothing that forces the student to think through the problem.”

Brenner’s software is like other commercial collaboration products in that it allows a professor to mark up PowerPoint slides or other material on a tablet computer in class during a lecture. The slides and notes are projected onto a large screen for students to view. The software saves the marked-up slides, with all handwritten notes captured as well, so that students can download them later. However, FarSightNet differs from many products in that it allows interactive written responses from students in class, each of whom is equipped with a wireless tablet computer. FarSightNet allows the professor to “call” on a student to solve an equation and can project that response on the board for everyone to see.

Lectures imported into FarSightNet can be in a wide variety of formats, including PowerPoint, Word, Photoshop, and many others. Other material can include textbook contents from a CD, a typed document, or an Internet site. The software converts the content into pages and presents it in scrollable windows, allowing the instructor to add notes by drawing on or marking up any screen. Jeff Brenner claims that the software uses little server processing power, relying on the client instead. And there are no constraints in FarSightNet on the number of students who can connect wirelessly at one time.

How probable is the implementation of something like FarSightNet on the touch-screen interface of the iPhone?

Be sure to visit Campus Technology for the full article on FarSightNet.