Syllabus: Teaching & Technology Workshop

Using Classroom Projection Equipment

Don't be intimidated, using a classroom computer projector is easy. A projector is nothing more than a kind of monitor, like the screen you're looking at right now. Anything you can see on your computer can be projected. There's nothing special or different about using a projector, your computer will work (or not) exactly the same way it always does.

There are two scenarios in which you might need to use a projector:

Using a computer already in the classroom
Hooking up your personal computer to a classroom system

Following are instructions for both scenarios:

Scenario 1. Using a computer already in the classroom:

Turn on the computer
Turn on the projector. This is done with the remote control. Aim it at the projector, not the screen. The remote receiver on the projector is usually on the front or bottom of the unit. It takes a while for a projector to warm up and display and image so be patient. Usually an indicator lamp on the projector will show you that it's on.
Tip: With the Sharp brand remotes, it's possible for one of the rubber buttons to get stuck down underneath the surface of the remote. Resultingly, it appears the remote isn't doing anything. Use your fingernail to pop the stuck button out and your remote will work normally again.
Once the projector is warmed up, you should see the computer's display up on the screen . If you don't see it, or if you only see a picture of Eliot Hall, look on the remote for a button marked "input." Press this button repeatedly until the computer display shows up.
If the projected image is not identical to the image on the monitor, but rather is acting like an extension of the computers screen (e.g. you can move your mouse "off" the monitor and onto the projected screen), you need to turn on "mirroring" (unless of course you prefer it this way). To turn on mirroring, go to the display (or "monitors") preferences (control panels in OS9, system preferences in OSX) and check the box that says "mirror displays".

Scenerio 2. Connecting your personal computer to a classroom system

First, make sure you have the cables you need. You will need a video cable, an ethernet cable (unless you have wireless or don't need network access) and an audio cable (if you want to connect to an in-room audio system). You will also probably need an adapter to connect the video cable to your powerbook. All powerbooks come with such adapters, but if you've lost yours (gasp!), the computer shop can find you a new one.
Hook up the cables to your computer: Connect the video cable to the adapter and shove the adapter into the monitor out port on your computer (it's marked with a symbol that looks like a rectangle with vertical lines on either side). The ethernet cable goes into the ethernet port, the one that looks like an oversized phone jack and is marked with a symbol somewhat like this: <...>, plug the audio cable into the headphone or audio out jack.
Hook up the cables to the room systems: sometimes the cables are already plugged into a wall box, in other rooms you must connect them yourself. You're looking for a silver box on the wall or in the floor that has a bunch of different connecting jacks. The exact configuration of these boxes varies, but in general you need to connect the video cable to the "video input" jack, the audio cable to the "audio input" jack and the ethernet cable into the ethernet jack. Sometimes the ethernet jack is on a separate wall plate with several jacks on it. Make sure you use the jack with the colored dot over it in these cases; the dot marks the active port.
Start up your computer and go to step two in Scenario One above.

Some Tips and Tricks for Using Projectors:

The Sharp brand remotes have some useful features you might want to know about. First, notice that there are labels on the remote in black and in green. To use the features labeled in green, flip the tiny switch on the bottom of the remote to the green-labeled "mouse" mode. Now you can access the built in laser pointer with the button up and right of the big purple button with the four arrows on it. To use features labeled in black, simply flip the wee switch over to "adj".

Up and left of large purple button is the "black screen" button. Pushing this will turn your screen dark, so you can lecture without the distracting image being up. Hit "black screen" again to get the projection image back. Black screen is much faster than waking the projector from it's sleep mode, so use it anytime you know you're going to be talking for a while and not using the projector.