Are you overwhelmed with getting around a class full of devices to check student’s work? Do you want to make more of a personal iPad or phone in your class teaching?
Then why not explore options to ‘cast’ or ‘mirror’ devices to the classroom interactive display.
How does it work?
Many new interactive displays in classrooms have options that allow the screens of student’s computers, tablets and phones on the same network to be shared onto the main classroom display. The function may also be called ‘wireless display’ Some systems will even allow many screens to be shared at once making it ideal for classrooms with group or individual devices.
You can check with the manufacturer for the particular details for your classroom display but usually there will be an option to use an app along with a class code or QR type code that appears on the main display that allows student devices to connect. Once connected, the teacher can often choose which display to show. If you have Apple devices in class, students may be able to use the AirPlay functions to share their screens.
Some screen sharing software even allows the teacher to ‘take control’ of the remote screen which can help when teaching how to use a software feature or helping a class review code made in something like scratch.
Tip: Use your phone or tablet as a mobile visualiser!
Here is a really neat trick. If you just have one device such as a teacher’s iPad or phone, you can share that device screen when using the devices’s camera. This turns the phone or tablet into a mobile visualiser allowing you to roam around the class and project student’s work from anywhere. This is great for demonstrating experiments or helping students see details of hands-on-tasks without them having to crowd around someone. You can even make a holder for your device allowing it to sit above any work you want to ‘cast’ or share.
Tip: Add screen sharing to an older display or projector
Most interactive displays are effectively very large TVs and if they do not have a casting or mirroring function built in, you can often add it using devices that plug in like an AppleTV. These will usually connect through a spare HDMI socket.
TIP: Connect an iPad directly to an interactive whiteboard or display.
If you want to demonstrate something on an iPad and there are issues with wireless or casting displays, you can also get physical adaptors that will allow a device such as an iPad to be projected on the main classroom display. These connect to the charging socket of the device and will output as HDMI (some might output as VGA, – the older style that might be found on some classroom projectors).
Hopefully you have found something here that you might be able to try to make the most of those extra devices in a class.
