Interactive Presentations & Mobile Devices

Free Yourself from the Podium

Mobile Devices
Students in a science lab look to their professor for classroom instruction.

Interactive Classroom Projection

We offer a number of different ways to increase interactivity of classroom lectures and instruction. If you are interested in adopting a flipped classroom approach, or provide lectures for review after the fact, most of the solutions below will allow you to do this fairly easily. Also included are the locations where you can find these resources. If you are interested in trying out one of these technologies and you can’t arrange to teach in that space, please submit a Help Desk request and we will see if we can accommodate your needs.

Doceri
Doceri, an app used on an iPad, turns your iPad into an interactive whiteboard. You can project the image from your iPad directly to the projection screen and display as your draw on your device. Annotations can be captured and shared online with students after class for review. Doceri can also be used as a remote desktop control for the classroom podium. Here is an informative review of Doceri from Faculty Focus.

Currently installed in these rooms:

Davis and Emerson Auditoriums
Sports Center 226
Harder 103
Dana 240
Filene 119
Bolton 280

Apple TV
With an Apple TV available in your lab or classroom, you can easily move about the room and project material from an iPad. If you choose, students can also share content from their own iPads.

Currently installed in these rooms:

Foreign Language Lab
Palamountain 200
Library 113
Library 222

Air Server
Projecting with mobile devices is made simple using the Air Server application. This tool allows for untethered classroom projection from an Android or iOS device. Find examples of how this application is used by visiting our post on the How Do I? website.

To request Air Server be installed in your classroom, you can submit a help ticket above or contact us at the bottom of this page.

Classroom Response Systems/Live Polling

Live polling solutions provide immediate feedback to the instructor about how well students understand key concepts presented in class. iClicker loaner kits as well as wifi polling software are both available from IT at no cost to Skidmore faculty and students.
Learn More

Quickly Assess Student Understanding

Increase Interaction and Engagement

Give all students the opportunity to contribute, even the quiet ones

Mobile Devices

Recommended Applications

Resources
Borrow a Device
A growing number of Skidmore faculty are exploring the use of digital presentation tools¬†in their teaching. These devices and applications provide the option of increased mobility within the classroom as well as the ability to take your teaching “desktop” with you to any classroom. An additional benefit is you can easily capture lecture materials on-the-fly and create reusable learning objects for students and future use.¬†There is a constant flow of interesting new applications available for presenting and annotating lessons, lab materials, and demonstrations.

Examples of these devices:

  • iPad – All varieties; however the iPad Pro with it’s enhanced drawing capabilities is especially exciting.
  • iPhone and other Varieties of Smartphones
  • Microsoft Surface Tablet

There are various options for how to connect and project these devices in the classroom. For example, if you are a Mac enthusiast, we have Apple TV’s available in a few classrooms, which allow you to present directly from your mobile device. Another popular and easy to use solution is the¬†Doceri¬†app, an interactive whiteboard, free from the App Store. All you need to do is let us know what room you will be teaching in, and we will supply the software needed on the podium.

LEDS is available to assist you in learning about these technologies and testing them out in the classroom. We have devices available for loan, whether its for a few days or for a semester-long trial. We are excited to work with you!

An iPad show shown sharing its screen through a projector
miscellaneous phone applications

Recommended Mobile Applications

In the explosive world of mobile apps, there is no shortage of different options available, both free and for fee. Many of the nicer apps with full feature sets often have a cost associated with them. Listed below is a mix of free and licensed apps that work well for communication and learning. If you’d like to try any of the apps out below before purchasing, please contact Ben Harwood at LEDS.

Cloud Storage
Skidmore College’s enterprise instance of Box.com  is a very secure storage app that syncs all content on your mobile and desktop computers from anywhere on or off campus. Fully integrated with the College’s LDAP, everyone at Skidmore has an account. You can edit existing Microsoft files directly in Box and also create new documents. Edits made from your mobile device are automatically updated. It is the recommended solution for Skidmore institutional data.

OneNote
Microsoft’s digital notebook application is bundled with our institutional Office 365 license. It can be used to organize content, record audio notes, annotate, and tag, among other things. The application is available in iTunes and on Google Play.

Dropbox
Dropbox is a free remote storage app that syncs all content on your mobile and desktop computers. I highly recommend as a backup and virtual storage area of your personal data.

Document Annotation
Increasingly, it’s desirable to edit and annotate over PDF and other documents and be able to save and share these edits with others via email or in collaborative document repositories such as Box.com. Of the many free and for-fee apps, we recommend either
Good Reader or iAnnotate. These apps have impressive authoring and editing functionality and integrate with other cloud based apps.
Multimedia Capture and Note Taking
Evernote
Evernote is a very handy productivity and organizational app that lets you capture and create notes and attach images, video and audio clips. It also has a powerful search feature. In combination with the drawing app Penultimate, it captures all of your written notes and annotations.
Handwriting, Note Taking and Drawing
Penultimate, Notes Plus, Doceri
Tablets lend themselves naturally to handwriting and note taking. With a stylus, it’s very easy to begin annotating over existing documents or creating your own drawings that can be used as visuals or handy reminders of a note taking session in class or a meeting. Each of the above apps excels at letting users customize handwriting and drawings based on color, font size and other features. Notes and drawings can be exported to other applications or can be viewed as standalone image or video clips.
Web Conferencing
Zoom
This is the preferred web conferencing tool that Skidmore now licenses. See our Zoom page on this website for more detailed information on its features. The Zoom mobile app works quite well, and is available for both iOS and Android.

Microsoft’s Skype and Google Hangouts  are desktop computer standards for free web conferencing. The Skype and Hangout apps work exceptionally well over wifi.

Computer Classroom Management

Netop Vision Mobile lets you virtually control and manage a classroom podium computer as well as all student workstations with an iPad. In terms of collaboration and efficiency, it lets you project a student workstation onto the LCD projector for all to see. It also allows teachers to monitor student progress on individual workstation and restrict internet access which can be useful during tests. Netop is currently installed in the BI Room and the Learning Lab in Library 222.

Web Publishing
WordPress
This app allows you to post and create content on the go! I use it with my personal blogs and it works like a charm.
How Do I?

Obtain a Mobile Device

Borrow a Device
Faculty and staff are welcome to borrow an iPad for short-term evaluation. Faculty and staff can “check out” an IT iPad loaner kit for up to 2 weeks. “Kits” consists of an iPad2, a stylus, a bluetooth keyboard & detachable case cover, power adaptor and a carrying case. If you decide to purchase and install apps on the loaner, please remember that you will need to create your own iTunes account. Many apps are available at no cost. To borrow an iPad, please contact us.
Purchasing a Device
For personal purchases: IT encourages you to visit the Skidmore Bookstore for assistance with placing an ordering for an iPad and AppleCare coverage and warranty. IT highly recommends that you purchase AppleCare at the time of any purchase. You will be glad you did if you ever accidentally drop the device and crack the screen.

For departmental purchases: Departments may purchase iPads with their own department funds. An iPad may not be used as a person’s primary computer. It cannot be considered a primary computer when it comes time for a 4 year replacement. All iPads for institutional use should be purchased through IT (Kathy Kinnin) so that the AppleCare gets automatically registered and the device gets included in inventory for loss or warranty purposes. IT does not provide or purchase extra adapters, cords, or cases.

Office

Find us on the second floor of the library: Library 222

Hours

M-F: 8:30am – 4:30pm
Feel free to swing by during our normal office hours or schedule an appointment

Email

leds@skidmore.edu
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