Data Projectors for Dummies
Posted by Chris on August 5, 2007
Back in the day, when data projectors were still somewhat of a novelty, it was probably acceptable to be a little unsure of how to set one up. But these days we are finding them in great demand and although our school techs are still willing to come set it up for teachers if they ask, I think there ought to come a point when we learn to do these things for ourselves. I mean, you don’t ask a tech to come set up an regular overheap projector for you, or a TV and DVD player, so why would a data projector be any different? As our classrooms start to depend more and more on a range of “devices”, surely we need to know how to use them for ourselves?
Anyway, In an attempt to ease the way (and more-or-less gently drop the hint that it’s about time some of you figured out how to do this stuff for yourselves) I made this little video that explains the step-by-step process of using a data projector the right way.
After adding it to our intranet, I had a copy just sitting on my hard drive so I figured I may as well share it with the rest of the world on my blog (Not that the rest of the world reads my blog mind you!) It might be of some use to someone.
Your comments are welcome. And yes, I know I needed a haircut.
Tags: dataprojector, laptop, presentation, projector
August 5th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Thank you Chris for sharing this video. We are planning on creating a series of “How to…?” screencasts as well for our faculty. What topics have you found to be the most in demand?
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August 6th, 2007 at 12:06 am
You’re welcome Silvia. To be honest, this is the first one I’ve made, so I guess this is our most popular topic so far. hehe. I was thinking of doing some more though for some of the specific things that happen within our school, maybe like setting up the mobile SmartBoard, how to check your school web-based email from home, how to add stuff to the school intranet Sharepoint server… that sort of thing.
The how-to type of thing for learning about software apps is already pretty well covered by things like Atomic Learning, so I would probably avoid reinventing the wheel for that stuff.
I think a video on “How do I place a call to Helpdesk?” would be useful.
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August 6th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I’m horrified that some teachers still don’t know how to set up a data projector. How long have they been around?
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August 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Thank you, Chris. Nicely done. I wish I could just use your video and pass it around to the teachers in my school, but our filters block YouTube. As a result, I think I will have to create my own little video like yours. At least I now have a good example to follow!
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August 7th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Thanks Suzanne. Are you the same Suzanne Magerko that works at Lewis-Palmer? Just Googled your name…
I’m happy to send you a copy of the actual video file if that’s of any use to you… though you’ll be stuck with the Australian accent…
Let me know if you want a copy.
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August 8th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Chris, as a technology coordinator in my school, I’m not at all surprised there are staff that still don’t know how to do this. This is a good, simple tutorial. Fortunately, I don’t have to do many for software myself anymore, as our Diocesan Catholic Education Office (Parramatta, NSW) has subscribed the entire system of 75+ schools to Atomic Learning.
It’s funny how many teachers are still seeing technology tools as “someone else’s job” or as foreign objects in their classrooms. Similar to how you suggested in your post, and I once read/heard somewhere before, we never had “pencil technicians.”
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August 8th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Thanks Rob. Yes I used to make software tutorials too… it’s a big job! A few years back I created a CD ROM that had several hours worth of screen tutorials designed expressly to meet the requirements of the NSW CSA10 exams… each short movie file was specifically aimed at explaining the key indicators of the Computing Skills list published by the BOS. Lots of work, and when I look now at what you get with Atomic Learning, it really makes me wonder why we keep reinventing the wheel all the time!
It always frustrates me when I hear teachers refusing to fully engage with the use of ICT in their teaching because it’s not “their thing”. I often point out that doing playground duty on cold winters days is not “my thing” either, but it’s part of the job we have to do, so get over it. (Except I try to say it a little more tactfully!)
And the Pencils article you read may have been this one? http://ictpd.net/bj/publish/pencils.htm by Bryn Jones from WA.
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