Peterson Hall 2408

Classroom Features, Technology Instructions, and Teaching Tips

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Classroom Features

  • Touch panel controller
  • Instructor credenza with PC
  • Interactive whiteboard and projector
  • Wireless presentation capabilities
  • Laptop/Tablet connection capability (HDMI)
  • Document camera
  • Movable tables organized as a single large seminar table
  • Whiteboard on the wall opposite the projector
  • Illustrated Quick Start Guide
  • FAQs and Troubleshooting

Technology Instructions and Teaching Tips

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Touch panel controller

Instructions

  1. Touch the panel screen on the console to start the system. In most classrooms, the screen(s) will automatically lower.
  2. Tap to select the appropriate source button for viewing. Console PC is the default source.
  3. See panel screen for volume control and screen-blanking options.

Instructor credenza with PC

Instructions

  1. 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.
  2. Log in with MESA: Enter your Mason username and password if you need to access your MESA drive. Remember to log out when you are finished.
  3. To use Ink2Go to annotate electronic documents, to 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. Model thinking and problem solving: Use the touch screen 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.
  2. Put students in the driver’s seat: When you have students lead class presentations or discussions, ask students to pre-load their slides from USB, OneDrive, or other cloud sites before class to save time. Remind any students who use Mac OS that some slides may display differently on this computer. Make sure they blank the screen to keep any login information private.
  3. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Interactive whiteboard and projector

Instructions

  1. Touch the whiteboard and select the icon for the desired mode, Interactive or Annotation. Default is PC Interactive mode. See the icon with a computer mouse located on the side of the image.
  2. PC Interactive mode lets you use a stylus (or finger) as a mouse to open applications, access links, and operate scroll bars.
  3. Annotation mode displays a toolbar on the side of the projected image and consists of drawing tools to support annotation on the image.
  4. For more detailed instructions, visit the Stearns Center’s Interactive Whiteboard and Projector page.

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Control and annotate the display up front: Use the active mouse mode to keep students’ attention by manipulating the display right in front of them: switch windows or advance slides, follow on-screen links, magnify key selections. You can also use the annotation mode to highlight or add text to any item that is displayed–slides, web pages, images–and save those annotations to your notes to share later.
  2. Create or demonstrate new ideas with students: You and/or your students can use the integrated whiteboard mode and your finger or a stylus to brainstorm a list of research questions, sketch a scene, work problems, or map a complex concept and then save that whiteboard for future analysis.
  3. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

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.

Laptop or tablet connection capability

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.

Movable tables organized as a single large seminar table

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Move between collaborative and individual work stations: Pushing tables or desks together facilitates partner and/or group work for activities like peer review, collaborative problem solving, small group peer teaching, jigsaw reading and reporting out activities, group testing, or working with manipulatives (like Legos). Remember, group sizes and table configurations can be rearranged even within a class session if a subsequent activity calls for individual work space for assessment activities or individual reflection or work.
  2. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Whiteboard on the wall opposite the projector

Supporting Active and Engaged Learning

  1. Make students’ group work visible: When students work out problem sets on the white boards in pairs or small groups, it gives the instructor a chance to observe their ideas, where they might be getting stuck, or where they may have a particularly interesting contribution. Asking groups to share out their ideas from their public workspaces often leads to a greater variety of responses and can invite interesting debates and feedback from peers. (Hint: If you’ll use white boards regularly, you can ask students to purchase and bring their own markers.)
  2. Make learning and problem solving visual: Asking students to draw a concept map or a mental model of a concept or process on the white board can be a helpful learning tool for visually or spatially-inclined students. It may be interesting to see how different pairs or groups of students imagine a similar idea.
  3. Elicit peer feedback in a round-robin fashion: Students may begin by drafting a problem statement or a proposal, drawing a first version of a diagram or model, or writing discussion questions or key ideas on the board. Then, you might have the students rotate in one direction to add comments, questions, feedback on their peers’ work until they return to their space to see what feedback has been left for them. This helps engage all students in pushing each other’s thinking while learning about their peers’ approaches to a similar problem or topic as part of the learning process.
  4. For more teaching tips and examples, visit the Stearns Center’s Active Learning page.

Instructor’s View
Back View
Door View