Untethered Teaching (and Netgear Push2TV review)

I was recently inspired by an article discussing the untethering of the teacher to relate my experiences in a classroom.

We’ve all been in one. You know them. Long rows of tables and chairs facing the well-used whiteboard that also serves as a projection screen.

As teachers we tend to be tethered to the front of our rooms. Even if we attempt to actively avoid the ‘sage on the stage’ mantle, invariably those explicit teaching moments require us to roll up our sleeves, grab a whiteboard marker, and go to it.

Perhaps it was due to my incompetence when it comes to writing on a whiteboard, or my own nerdy pre-disposition, but I started tinkering with ways to untether myself many years ago. However, it wasn’t until the Collaborative Teaching project at St Mary’s Maitland that I was able to bring it all together.

The Collaborative Teaching project at St Mary’s Maitland saw the old hospitality room – all 115m² – stripped back to a bare classroom. It still had at the front of the room a whiteboard and projector – albeit a little larger than the norm – and the teacher’s desk. And to that we added 48 students to a flipped learning pedagogy with high amounts of collaboration.

We also started to use of the projector manufacturer software on a tablet device to control the projector. Now the explicit teaching could occur from any part of the room. PowerPoints could be delivered from anywhere by anyone.  It was possible to look over a student’s shoulder, see some good work and send it to the screen via the camera. It was also possible to write in OneNote all those mindmaps and visual tools that are so prevalent in the HSC, or to demonstrate in real time the ideas students were putting on paper. It was even possible to throw the tablet to a student to present, control or use for small group purposes.  I was able to change the way I taught as well. Everything could be recorded. This was really the first step in the flipped learning approach I employed for my teaching of Studies of Religion at St Mary’s.  

As we became untethered I started to notice a change. I didn’t have to stop a lesson and address the student talking at the back. I could now continue teaching and simply draw near. Many of those oft-disruptive moments disappeared. In addition, the Alt-Tab game became less and less as students realised I could see their screens and if they were off-task. I referred to it as proximal behaviour management. Remind me to trademark that.

Almost any classroom teacher can untether themselves, though some will find it easier than others. Teachers with newer tablets and laptops which have WiDi can use a range of WiDi connectors to transmit information wirelessly to the projector. Some newer projectors and televisions are already WiDi compliant. I’ve used a few  products to connect via WiDi, and it’s a seamless connection once you’ve ironed out a few bugs.

Untethering yourself is not always a simple process. However, to be free to teach from any part of the room is often worth some of the initial hassle.

In the video below I review the Netgear Push2TV device that provides a $60 option for connecting yourself wirelessly to a projector or television. 

Secondary Learning Technology Blog - Netgear Push2TV from Andrew Cornwall on Vimeo.