Applications of Microsoft Kinect

The Microsoft Kinect is a motion sensor camera, which is typically used along side the Microsoft Xbox consoles. This product was amongst one of the first of its kind to use the new motion technology, and for this reason, people have taken full advantage of the Kinect’s capabilities, as it is not primarily used for gaming. For example, many people may not know but the Kinect sensor can also be used as an external peripheral for Windows computers. Several literature articles have been written to explore the applications of Microsoft Kinect such as “Hui-mei Justina Hsu’s (2011) ‘The Potential of Kinect in Education’, which explores the existing and potential uses of Kinect for educational purposes. This review explores the applications of Microsoft Kinect. Currently, the primary application of this kind of technology is for gaming. However, its uses are now been extended to educational and scientific use.

In Hui-mei Justina Hsu’s (2011) ‘The Potential of Kinect in Education”, She explores Kinect as interactive technology and how it can be used to aid teaching and learning. The author explains how Kinect can be used in a classroom environment to support kinesthetic pedagogical practices to aid the students learning experience. In recent years, many teachers have adapted a kinesthetic method of teaching, as most students don’t learn effectively with traditional teaching methods. For this reason, Kinect could be integrated into schools to allow students with a kinesthetic learning style to learn effectively. This Kinect technology has the potential to increase classroom interaction within lessons. As mentioned before, many students like to learn physically rather than with pen and paper. So, by investing in this technology, a school could potentially improve grades vastly. This technology could also form a new teaching style; similarly to the way interactive whiteboards were used along side a new teaching style. One subject that could really make use of this technology is ICT/Computing. To date, ICT is seen as boring as the set work is usually on a computer, which isn’t very interactive in my opinion. Additionally, the space for pupil interaction is extremely minimal, which is why the Kinect technology can be useful.

As well as showing potential within education, Kinect technology also has its flaws. The author discusses many drawbacks to this topic, some of which I personally disagree with. Firstly, one of the most obvious constraints to adapting this technology into education is the space required. For anyone who has used the Microsoft Kinect, they will know that you need a specific amount of space to be able to make full use of the Kinects functionality. As discussed before, the Kinect could potentially induce a new teaching style. For this reason, a classroom could also be redesigned to adapt a new teaching style, and this could make the space that is required. Another constraint to this technology is