Aug 18, 2020 - 2 min read - 435 views 

Covid-19 Classroom Technology

In 2 weeks I will be asked to teach students that are physically in my classroom and remotely learning at the same time. If you have followed any other posts in my blog, you probably know that I am ready for most things, but what I was not ready for was being stuck teaching in 1 place behind my desk! That is not how I function! So I had to really start thinking about my teacher technology set up to survive this very new style of teaching!

What I ended up doing with the help of my husband and some money out of pocket is connecting an external monitor to my school laptop. To do this I had to get an external display port since my laptop docking station would not allow me to connect a VGA cable going to my projector and an HDMI cable going to my external monitor at the same time. Your laptop or docking station may allow you to do that so troubleshoot before you buy. I also brought in my own external webcam that I have on my external monitor, but it has an extra-long USB cable and a tripod attachment so I can move it elsewhere if needed. 

With this set up I now have 3 Screens that I set as extended screens on my laptops display settings. This allows me to check emails and take attendance on my laptop, while I display the lesson through the projector, AND have a live TEAM meeting going on on the third monitor all at the same time. Having a wireless mouse allows me to move anywhere I need to manage the presentation, laptop screen, or monitor screen. I have dry tested this setup and LOVE it, but the real test will be in 2 weeks when students return! I hope this set up gives you some ideas to make technology work in your classroom for these unusual times. Below is a video that shows the set up in a bit more detail!!

Below is a follow-up tutorial on how to extend the display on your computer to make all the technology you hook up to your computer work!