One of the parts of my job that I love, is teaching classes for Adult Education at my local high school. I have taught many classes over the past 15 years, from how to use Word and Excel, to how to build your own computer.
I tend not to use a projector when I teach, because it ties me to the computer and I tend to get ahead of my students. I prefer to walk around the classroom and make sure that none of the students are getting behind. I’m currently teaching a class where my messy handwriting on the board leads to mistakes when the students type the HTML tags I have written into their web pages. To fix this, I have started using Power Point instead of writing on the board.
The first week of class, the power point worked pretty good, but I had to return to the projector each time I wanted to advance a slide. This week, I was thinking that it would be nice if the notes that went with my slideshow were on my iPad, so I went looking for an iPad app that would display PowerPoint slideshows.
I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for… instead, I found something even better!
I found an app named, “Slideshow Remote”. This cool app has a free version and an upgrade that you can purchase. So far, I have only used the free version, and it does everything I need.
Slideshow Remote displays my power point slides on the iPad along with my teaching notes, and it also connects (via Wi-Fi) to my laptop which is displaying the slideshow on the projector. When I am ready to move to the next slide, I simply tap the screen of my iPad, and the laptop advances to the next slide. It was so cool!
Slideshow Remote does require a working Wi-Fi connection. Both the laptop and the iPad (it also works with your iPhone or iPod touch) need to be connected to the Wi-Fi, and I had to install a free program on my laptop in order for the two to communicate.
I am impressed with how easy this was to set up. I was able to concentrate on teaching the class, and I am thrilled that I won’t have to depend on a printed copy for my notes.
If this is an app that you can use, check it out at:
http://www.slideshowremote.com
This week, I am going to experiment with some of the other types of documents it will work with. It says that it will display Word documents too. I would love it if I could type code on my iPad directly onto the projector…
Elizabeth
It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.
I belong to a church in NH that is in a historic building. They currently sing out of hymnals but we have been trying to learn different ways to display lyrics overhead instead, as well as bulleted message notes. Our Pastor uses an ipad for his own notes and he has a projector and laptop that we’ve used for small video clips, so this remote looks like something we might be able to use. We are also looking into the pros and cons of a tv type display vs. a projected image. There are no shades on the stained glass windows and it’s hard to see a projected image sometimes.