Tonight's Modern Educator podcast #7 deals with the Apple TV, the Smart Board and the Promethean Board set ups.

We start by taking a look at the Apple TV set up which is used in conjunction with an iPad or a MacBook laptop computer. These are usually hooked up with an HDMI cord which is usually then split with an adapter to VGA then split to audio and projector. The system plays videos over the video as well as speakers in the room. with Apple TV one can display interactive applications.

Apple TV is a very small box in proportion to the actual TV screen. It's best attribute is that it's used to disengage the teacher from all the cords he/she usually has to fuss with when trying to use projection while teaching. Apple TV allows the teacher to be mobile with his/her iPad, using the iPad as a document camera of sorts in order to display on a large TV. Sometimes individual students themselves are allowed to connect their iPads to the Apple TV. It can also be used with MacBooks running 10.8 (must be 2011 or newer MacBook. The older MacBooks don't have the right chips in them).

Part 1

Part 2

The Apple TV box has completely changed the way we use the iPad. Before Apple TV, we used iPad as kind of a book viewer but the interactivity wasn't there. Now there is tremendous interactivity potential. Barry says, "Everything I do on the iPad is now intended for the kids to see. First it's a device that shows show videos...Netflix, etc. iTunes ecosystem. Really designed for this and YouTube. What it does in the classroom aside from that that is really neat is that it allows you to airplay everything from the iPad or Mac to the classroom projector. Walking around and interacting and not anchored to a computer desk. This is far beyond what we've previously been able to do with a remote clicker which simply advances us from slide to slide in a presentation. No longer locked to a powerpoint. Now we can just jump around the iPad apps in real time and show the students. This "secondary" use of the iPad in the form of projector is actually one of the most powerful uses of the tool."

Proximity is key to effective teaching. How can a teacher best enhance their capacity to move around? How can one still teach and present and monitor students in close proximity all at the same time? Apple TV / iPad now gives us the tools to detach from our desks and stay close to students as they are working and still remain in control of the class.

It is true that before this, we've had "clickers" in our classrooms that allow us some mobility and freedom from pushing buttons on a computer back at our desks, but these don't give us the flexibility to move around AND to jump from app to app on a hand-held device that we're using to display things to students. All clickers do is allow us to move through a slide presentation. This new interactivity of Apple TV / iPad now allows teachers a lot of flexibility in presentation as well as mobility and proximity to students.

What are some of the negatives and limitations of the Apple TV? The risk is much more about the infrastructure than it is about the hardware. It's all about how much can your WiFi handle in your school? Sometimes these devices won't work if the infrastructure isn't robust. Many schools are pulling cables in for all AppleTVs because they don't work reliably on "airplay." Apples tend to be "chatty" and there is a lot of extra traffic in the air which causes glitches. The answer is to hardwire them. This was one of the negatives we mentioned in an earlier broadcast on Chromecast and that is that it can't be hard wired. It's airplay only. We see this as a big drawback in schools that may not have the most robust wifi systems.

Barry shared from first-hand experience, the power of these tools in the classroom. He had students doing a reading assignment. He had the text projected on the screen and all the students could follow it on their individual iPads. When the projection "went away" it was much more difficult to keep kids engaged.

It should be noted that there are some restrictions on what things can be projected to AppleTV. The device play Apple only applications.   Still even some Apple apps are restricted. On the iPad itself, and even on MacBooks, there are options such as AirPlay. If you jump into AirPlay on Netflix you can project to your TV without showing on your iPad screen. There is also enabling AirPlay which creates a mirroring that puts everything on your iPad screen seen on the TV. Not all apps do all of this.

If you're going to use Apple TV, beware that it's HDMI only. A projector that's not HDMI capable will require you to buy an HDMI/VGA adapter and not all these adapters are of equal quality. Be sure you get one that plays nicely in this service. There is a lot of research that goes into these if you buy third part. The Cannex ATV Pro HDMI/VGA adapter is available for $59.95 directly from the Apple site. Apple TV is $100. The adapter is $59.95 plus any cords needed. So the total up front cost round under $200. If you buy third party, do your own research. Buy one or two to make sure they work and are good quality before you buy the whole batch. The best solution is to try to make sure you buy HDMI projectors. They'll be around for a while as the standard device. VGA will go out a lot sooner.

Next in our discussion is SmartBoards. Are they good good, or are they bad?

We've seen both. From a tech perspective, those who really get into them and use them love them, especially math teachers who like to record live what they are doing so it's available as notes for kids who struggle with note taking. Many times a board will go into a classroom and teachers won't run with it. Some schools invested in Mimeos which are a cheaper more portable version of the SmartBoard. These stick to a whiteboard with suction cups. It uses a regular dry erase marker that goes in a special cover. When you write with the dry erase marker the Mimeo tracks the stroke. The key thing was not the features available on this scaled down model or even on the more upscale SmartBoard; it is simply whether the teacher uses it or not.

Team member, Barry saw nothing in those classes using SmartBoards or Prometheans that couldn't be done by any teacher with old fashioned chalk or dry erase markers. These tools did not change how teachers were teaching. These people hadn't caught the vision of the capacity these tools have for increasing student engagement. With the Promethean, what makes it powerful is "OK, student, here's this fancy little pen. The student is able to walk to the board and interact with stuff. It works like a mouse at the board. You can open up a PDF document that projects on the screen and allows you interact. A teacher who uses the I do, We Do, You Do it gradual release of responsibility method of instruction will see the power these tools have to get the students "butts off the seats" and that is critical to an engaged classroom.

(Part B. Off Air. We staged this dramatic failure to show you guys that sometimes this happens with technology.)

A tech specialist is not always available. How difficult is this hardware for the average teacher to manage? Installation is definitely for specialists. Even glitches are somewhat complicated--even for tech-savy teachers. There is a multi-wire situation. We train teachers as far as plugging into the right hole but you don't hand these tools to them cold and expect them to run with them. If it goes down it's call your IT and facility people kind of stuff. Team member, Matt tried to diagram a troubleshooting sheet for a teacher and it was a web of complexity that was too much. He didn't realize until he actually started diagraming the steps how complex it truly was.

We concur that Apple TV is the most simple of these devices. If a tool isconfusing and it goes down, people don't even try because it looks like Pandora's box and they stick to what they know. The more complicated it looks the more hesitant people are; however, teachers are often using these tools fearlessly because of how much easier and how much more powerful these tools are for teaching.

With the Promethean Boards there is a fair amount of tech support that goes on. Recalibration is common request.

For teachers using the Mimeos they weren't any less complicated than the SmartBoard or Promethean but in this school there were a fair amount of teachers using the same thing and together they could figure it out. There was a creative culture of support amongst the teachers using the devices.

The question for technology specialists has always been, "How do we get the teachers to use it?" It hasn't been until iPads and Apple TV that people have hit the ground running with these new instructional devices. That's what Apple has been trying to do--make things simple. Recently, Barry had an instructional assistant who'd never used an iPad before. She useD it in his absence as a substitute. Have have her 30 seconds of training and she used it flawlessly without his help. There is no known Promethean Board scenario that matches that.

Team member, Dean, mentioned that if you're going to put a Promethean or SmartBoard in a room, the screen is smaller than a typical pull down screen normally installed in a classroom.   With these new devices, you ow you have to move the projector. This can be a very expensive proposition ($1,000-$1,500). Then if you decide not to use these at a later time, there's another expense of moving it for projection back onto the larger board. What we're saying here is that there's "the price" and then there is "THE price" of technology installation.

Here's the elephant in the room. The big question is: Is it better to have an AppleTV/iPad or the Promethean boards? We're split. If an administrator doesn't know what else to buy you'll get more bang for your buck with iPad combo but if you've got a community of supportive teachers who are creating lessons, etc. we've seen some good things happen with SmartBoards and Promethean but to think these latter devices are going to be your technology plan is a mistake.

We believe that Mimeos, SmartBoards and Prometheans are becoming antiquated.

Barry talked about the iPad application named Group Board. He feels this iPad / Apple TV application simulates Promethean but is Promethan on steroids. This is like a collaborative whiteboard where kids see on their individual iPad screens everything someone else is doing. When someone does something on their "board" everyone working together sees what is being done. Promethean doesn't provide this interactivity. With iPad we see app developers really pushing the envelope with this collaboration capacity. We think there is a coming revolution in education with this developing collaboration capacity.

Team member Matt thinks it comes down to Promethean being a one-trick pony. It's feature set is SET. There'll be new software upgrades but with iTV Apple combo there's some amazing creativity yet to be seen.

Team member Teresa mentioned the Cost of Promethean is absurd vs AppleTV/iPad combo. Just moving the projector to accommodate Promethean can run a school $1,000-$1,500. The Promethean setup alone is in the $1,000 range. Then there is the miserable "fun" of accidentally writing on the Promethean/SmartBoard screen with a dry erase marker. The damage is permanent when the weird porous surface is accidentally marked.

One application that's been tried in some schools is using the Epsom Short-throw projector. Barry says it's a useless waste of "skin." It's attempting to combine Promethean board and projector into one unit. It's a well-meaning device but it falls far short in actual execution. You can, however, use a dry-erase board without difficulty. It uses an electronic pen and sensors that try to extrapolate what you're doing with your pen...similar to what Promethean does. Barry got the earliest generation and it simply doesn't work smoothly. The later versions of these may be better and for those looking into these devices, the research might be worth it. Matt worked in a middle school that bought later versions of the Epsom Short-throw and he thought they were solid. As far as calibrating was concerned, he didn't work with them long-term but he didn't have to go back to recalibrate a lot. With Promethean the sensor activity is in the board and is much more responsive.

The purpose of these discussions we're doing here at Modern Educator is to put things out there for folks who are considering the purchase of some of these technologies for their schools. People who are making decisions...will benefit from our discussions. We have a wide range of expertise on our panel and we think our views on our experiences with these technologies will help decision makers. As far as Apple TV or Smart Boards or Promethean tables are concerned, we believe that technologies like these are helping students engage in the curriculum rather than simply sitting passively by receiving this content. This has the potential to revolutionize teaching, learning, and student engagement in the classroom. That's what it's all about, folks. Student engagement in learning.