Pathway Innovations is bringing an eGlass Station that integrates an eGlass lightboard onto an all-in-one mobile teaching podium to this year’s ISTELive edtech conference in New Orleans.

It is also showing its HoverCam SOLO Air, the world’s first document camera with wireless USB capability, as well as the Opus Sound System, a smart ceiling microphone array that combines beamforming technology with real-time voice amplification to lift the teacher’s voice from anywhere in the classroom.

The eGlass Station solves the challenge of finding desk space in already crowded classrooms for Pathway’s lightboard, eGlass. The all-in-one mobile podium integrates an eGlass lightboard onto a mobile, battery-powered height-adjustable podium.

The eGlass is a transparent glass writing surface that utilises ChromaClear technology and adjustable LED lighting to intensify pen ink with a highly visible glow, along with a camera so students can see their teacher’s face within the same window as they write on the glass whiteboard.

The new eGlass Station houses the latest eGlass enhancements: RGB glass lights that introduce multiple colour combination possibilities to make marker ink glow in newer, brighter colours.

The stand is also equipped with two pull-out shelves to hold a laptop, document cameras or other teaching essentials, as well as a slide-out tray for a wireless keyboard and mouse, ensuring everything is conveniently located for fast, easy-to-conduct lessons.

When bundled with the Pathway’s Beamio wireless HDMI and touch casting system, instructors can wirelessly teach from anywhere in the classroom.

“The eGlass Station is loaded with features that provide many new benefits for our teachers. If I had to choose a favourite, it would be the new teaching models this wireless podium unlocks,” said Bayley Pierson, Pathway Innovations’ director of marketing.

“By cutting cables and adding wheels, teachers can depart from traditional direct instruction models and use eGlass anywhere in the classroom, paving the way for engaging blended learning models that get the ‘sage off of the stage’ and into an active learning environment,” added Pierson.

The new eGlass station also features updated eGlassFusion software, available for all existing eGlass users. And for an improved video conferencing experience, it has further integration with Zoom.

Other software additions include a new template library that provides users with a growing catalogue of digital teaching templates, such as graphs, charts and diagrams.

As for the HoverCam SOLO Air, with new OmniCast wireless technology it can wirelessly connect to any computer, being compatible with Windows, MacOS, Android or Chromebook, without software changes, drivers to install, weblink to download, nor passwords to enter.

Just plug in the included pocket-sized transmitter to your computer via USB or display via HDMI, and wireless video flows as if the camera was physically plugged in. The built-in battery gives SOLO Air up to six hours of cable-free use.

Pathway claims the SOLO Air is the first wireless document camera that requires no setup to deploy district wide. It is also interoperable with Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, and other platforms.

The Opus Sound System integrates beamforming microphone array technology with live PA that amplifies the teacher’s voice without the need for a lapel or pendant microphone.

Wherever the teacher is in the classroom, Opus can intelligently detect the active speaker’s voice and amplify it while eliminating other voices and unnecessary background noise, through active echo and noise cancellation, as well as automatic gain control.

It actively eliminates feedback loops, allowing it to capture and amplify voice in the same room in real-time. Opus’s intelligent zoning feature should give teachers the ability to listen-in on specific areas of their classroom without the need to position a microphone for each huddle space, a particularly useful feature for monitoring small group discussions.

Covering an entire classroom, the single microphone solution can be installed on the ceiling and connects to existing speaker systems.

During the show, visitors to the Pathway Innovations booth will have a chance to win one of three eGlass lightboards, and capture memories in the 360° photobooth.