Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning

Peterson Hall 1106

Classroom Features, Technology Instructions, and Teaching Tips

These photos give a typical room view.  Click to enlarge photos.  For precise room capacity and photos showing the furniture and layout of your exact classroom, please log in to 25Live.

Classroom Features

  • Touch panel controller
  • Instructor credenza with PC and two instructor monitors
  • Two instructor monitors
  • Two projectors and screens
  • Laptop/tablet connection capability (HDMI)
  • Document camera
  • Cameras and ceiling microphones
  • Wireless presentation capabilities
  • Illustrated Quick Start Guide
  • FAQs and Troubleshooting

Technology Instructions and Teaching Tips

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Touch Panel Controller

Use this Feature to Support Active and Engaged Learning

Leave the lectern: Although you can adjust the display and keyboard to allow you to sit or stand behind the lectern as you present information, this classroom has been designed specifically to encourage additional learning modes. As you plan each class session, you might envision other places in the room where you can stand or sit as you speak with, listen to, or observe your students in their learning.

Support group interaction: Switch to Group mode so that clusters of students can work on their own parts of a project on a nearby screen. Groups could project a shared document or Blackboard wiki as they all type; a single student’s draft they are reviewing together; a problem or selection of text they are working on together.

Go beyond Powerpoint: Switch to the document camera to work problems by hand on a notepad without turning your back to reach the whiteboard, or to show students a 3-D object up close (geological sample, artifact, small machine).

For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Technology Instructions

  1. Touch the panel screen on the console to start the system. In most classrooms, the display screen(s) will automatically power on and the PC will be automatically selected.
  2. Tap to select the appropriate source button for viewing. Options may include a document camera, laptop, and/or wireless.
  3. Adjust the volume and screen-blanking options by touching the appropriate button on the touch panel.
  4. Watch the tutorial video, for details on the usage and capabilities of the touch panel controller

PC With Annotation Monitor

Instructions

  1. Note: This small credenza has been positioned against the wall to maximize flow within the classroom and is designed with a moveable display arm that allows instructor to either sit or stand while operating the PC. An additional instructor table is provided.
  2. If the PC is not already on, check that the console screen is powered on, press the computer power button, or call support: 3-3456.
  3. Log in with MESA: Enter your Mason username and password for MESA access, respectively.
  4. “PC Main” defaults to the LEFT monitor and LEFT projector. It features AUDIO for all content and supports all annotation.
  5. “PC Extended” defaults to the RIGHT monitor and RIGHT projector. There is no audio associated with content on this monitor.
  6. To use Ink2Go to annotate electronic documents, capture snapshots or video of your screen, or to work on live whiteboards and save that work, see additional information here.

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Leave the lectern: Although you can adjust the displays and keyboard to allow you to sit or stand behind them as you present information, this classroom has been designed specifically to encourage additional learning modes. As you plan each class session, you might envision other places in the room where you can stand or sit as you speak with, listen to, or observe your students in their learning.
  2. Model thinking and problem solving: Use the touch screen on the left like a doc cam and paper to solve problems, annotate texts, or draw a diagram in real time, while sharing your thought process: Turn the screen flat, open a whiteboard in Ink2Go, and use your stylus to write or draw. Or ask a student to come up and model the work for the class. You can also then save the document and post for your students to review later.
  3. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Two Projection Screens

Instructions

  1. The projector may take 20-30 seconds to power down, and 20-30 seconds to power up on restart.
  2. Your screen(s) will automatically roll down when you turn the system on.
  3. Once the system is on, an automatic screen can be manually controlled by the wall switch if needed.
  4. See “Touch Panel Controller” for more information on selecting and switching screen content.

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Set up in-class group work efficiently: Use one screen to post the problem set or group activity instructions, and use the other to project an online timer or team roles to keep everyone on track. This will help all students, especially multilingual students, remember their tasks and stay on focused on learning.
  2. Combine and compare resources for problem solving: Project an informational resource (data set, code, text, essay rubric) on one screen and a problem or activity (directions, discussion questions, problem to solve, student sample essay) on the other. This allows all students to access both the problem and the information they might need to solve the problem at the same time.
  3. Facilitate a backchannel conversation in real time: Project a live feed (e.g., PollEverywhere, Twitter, Blackboard chat) on one screen to collect students’ questions/responses to a lecture or a class activity while the other screen features presentation materials. This allows you to see the conversation happening in the classroom in real time, so that presenters can check the pulse of the room and ask/answer questions.
  4. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

HDMI Connection

Instructions

  1. Locate the HDMI cable on top of the instructor console. (It may be located in the cable cubby.)
  2. Place the HDMI cord into the HDMI port on your device or the adapter. (If you do not have an HDMI port, you will need an adapter. If you are using an adapter, plug the adapter into your device.)
  3. Press the “HDMI” button on the touch panel controller to display your device’s screen. (The touch panel interface will indicate the selected source.)
  4. Faculty may check out laptops and/or adapters for temporary use from Classroom Support Services in The Mix at Fenwick Library. For longer-term use, please consult your department.
  5. To troubleshoot issues related to sound and/or image display, see the FAQ page.

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Reporting out from in-class activities: Invite individual students or teams to connect their device to the console to share the results of an in-class activity. After in-class work, not all participants or teams need to report out (this can get tedious), but asking a few to share increases accountability and helps spark discussion about the range of appropriate and innovative responses.
  2. Sharing student work and peer review: Invite individuals or teams to connect their device to share in-progress drafts of their research, designs, lab reports, or problem sets. Students who present informally and take questions gain confidence and may gain helpful feedback or insight; more importantly, others in the class see real-time problem-solving from their peers and are often reassured that not everyone gets it right the first time. Help students focus their comments on how the document/problem could be improved and what they themselves can learn from it (rather than commenting on the abilities of the student presenting).
  3. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Document Camera

Instructions

  1. Press the “DOC CAM” button on the touch panel controller to select the document camera as the source.
  2. Place the item on the white square or clear surface–document should be placed face-up.
  3. For capturing photos and recording videos of your item, insert a USB device into the USB port on the document camera. Press the capture/delete button on the document camera’s control panel to capture a picture of the displayed image.
  4. Note: Only select document cameras support this functionality. For more tips and instructions, visit the Stearns Center’s Document Camera page.

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Share your students’ finds: Remember that the doc cam can project a view from a student’s phone or tablet (though with varying image quality) and three-dimensional items as well as papers; your students’ backpacks and devices may have examples they can quickly share with the class using the doc cam. Using student examples can help strengthen connections between abstract concepts and their lived experience.
  2. Modified “gallery walk”: In a classroom with extended whiteboards, a team member can be selected to guide other students through the solution the team posted on the board as they move around the room. Here, using the doc cam, one or two students can bring a written record up to explain to the whole class; if the instructor selects these students at random, then all team members are always accountable for being ready to explain their team’s progress. Explaining and watching others explain the steps that led to a solution is a crucial element in retaining and transferring new knowledge.
  3. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Cameras & Ceiling Microphones

Use this Feature to Support Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Engage with a guest speaker: Remember that your presenter is not just a talking head. Of course, they can join your class from anywhere: an office or field site, using a desktop or mobile device. But also, students can post questions and additional responses while they are talking, and you can use those both to help foster live discussion and to help students reflect on the presentation (even re-watching parts of the recording if necessary) after your presenter logs off.
  2. Include all students: Students in your classroom who have accessibility needs or who are reporting from a field site can join a class meeting; students from the class of a colleague down the road or around the world can join for a day or work collaboratively for several weeks on a project; students from a local middle school could share ideas online and then give mini-presentations to receive feedback from your class.
  3. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Technology Instructions

  1. Touch the panel screen on the console to start the system
  2. Select the application of your choice i.e. Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, or Microsoft Teams on the PC, Laptop, or tablet.
  3. See the touch panel controller for volume, cameras,  microphones, and muting options.

Wireless Presentation

Instructions

  1. Open a browser on your device and enter the IP Address listed on the display
  2. Click Connect or Get the app
  3. Type the 4-digit code displayed on your device (the code will be different each time you connect)
  4. Follow the prompts to share your desktop, an application (Excel, Word, etc.) or a media file
  5. To troubleshoot related issues, see the Wireless Projection Resource Page.

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Leave the lectern behind: Whether you’re showing slides, demonstrating an online search, updating task directions, or taking notes on students’ ideas for research topics, you can do so using your laptop, tablet, or phone from anywhere in the room, standing or sitting. You are free to interact with groups and individuals as they work. Also, when students focus on the screen or on each other rather than on you, they often generate more attention to the problem or conversation at hand.
  2. Share student work: Invite individuals or team members to connect wirelessly to share their drafts, problem sets, proposals, or relevant websites with the whole class. Students can share at the end of an activity, or you can invite one or two students to share their work part-way through. Not only do students get to see others’ approaches, but students who share their work in progress can revise or expand it in real time as they receive guided feedback from their peers, helping everyone see the steps involved in learning. (Note: As students log in, you will see new user information appear on screen.)
  3. Let students lead: Wireless presentation not only works for formal student presentations, but also lets you identify a student to “lead from the side” for a few minutes at any point in class. A student can share his/her/their screen, explain their challenges and choices, and draw connections to the overall conversation. Students might model their note-taking strategies, their programming choices, their research steps, their data analysis methods, or their design planning. (If you “cool call” students, letting them know at the start of class that you’ll be asking them to talk for a minute or two about a project or question, they may be more ready to step into this role.)
  4. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

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