Interactive iOS Displays

Here is a great little trick for your classroom. Download a free version of AirServer at http://www.airserverapp.com/ and try it out! You can mirror your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to your laptop. Why would you want to do that you ask? Well, if your laptop is plugged into a projector or a TV, you have just created an interactive tablet within your classroom that can be projected in front of the room. At all of the conferences that I have been to lately, and seeing the trends in technology in education, I am seeing the slow death of the interactive white board. It's a said day for me who absolutely loved when my SMART board was installed in my 3rd grade classroom 8 years ago, but I see a new trend in technology in education.

Imagine, walking around your classroom with an iPad or iPod and setting it down on a student's desk, meanwhile you are still talking to the whole group. This has just given the students a heads-up that they will be demonstrating their understanding of the topic at hand in a few short minutes, and sure enough you turn and ask Johnny at his seat if he could show the rest of the students in the room an example of an obtuse angle. Using the iPad and any drawing app that you choose, Johnny draws the angle with his finger and everyone in the classroom sees "the big picture" (pun intended) up on the drop down screen in front of the classroom. Interaction without the delay of having a student get up from their seat, clomp to the front of the room around his/her peers, and only then to realize the white board was not oriented before the lesson. We've all been there at some point if you have had an IWB in your room before.

The cost is great too! For $60, 15 machines can run the program. Compare that price to outfitting teachers with Apple TV's each ($99) and an HDMI cable ($5). Not to mention the hassle of making sure you password protect the Apple TV's so that Mrs. Smith's class doesn't accidentally take control of your classroom's Apple TV during a lesson. It does mean that the teacher laptop is tethered to the projected image, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a cheap alternative with an excellent picture.