At Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, all eyes are on Professor Yuanchun Shi. But it's not the computer scientist's lecture that's so riveting-it's how she's giving it. One wall of her "smart classroom" displays photos of students at other universities across China who have logged in. Shi poses a question and calls on a remote student by shining a laser pointer on his photo. "Go ahead," the teacher says. The student's picture switches to live video and audio as he answers. Shi writes on a digital whiteboard that transmits her handwriting to the students' computers, complementing audio and visual feeds from cameras and microphones.

Shi's smart classroom is one of the most advanced in the world. Wide-scale testing is under way, and commercialization is planned, initially within China.