Classroom Technology

Many faculty want to be able share content with students in class without being stuck behind the podium. For faculty with wireless tablets or other mobile devices, there are a couple of ways to do this. One is to make use of the Cynap screen sharing devices located in many of our classrooms that enable faculty to easily share presentations directly from their iPads, Chromebooks or other mobile devices. For faculty teaching in rooms without Cynap or who have devices that aren't compatible with Cynap, an alternative is to share your device using Zoom to a session hosted on the classroom PC. This page will detail both of these ways of sharing content.

Probably the easiest way to share content from your wireless device to the classroom displays is by using the Cynap screen sharing devices available in a number classrooms on all campuses. (To see if your room has a Cynap device, go to the Room Lookup page of this guide. Rooms with Cynap are marked with asterisks.) Below you will you find instructions for selecting Cynap as your classroom's presentation source, and then connecting your device to it.

Getting started

There are a couple of preliminary steps you will need to take before connecting your device:

• First, turn the room’s AV panel on and select either “Wireless” (in the rooms with physical buttons) or “Cynap” (in the rooms with touchscreens) as the presentation source (see images below.)

    

• Then, make sure your device is logged into the eduroam wireless network. (Contact IS if you are having trouble logging onto the network)

Device specific instructions for sharing to Cynap are included below:

iPad

(Adapted from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204289)

1. Swipe down from the top right of your device’s screen to bring up the Control Center.
2. Once the Control Center is visible, find the Screen Mirroring icon (see image below) and click on it. 

3. This will bring up the Screen Mirroring control. It should list all the available displays to share to. The classroom display names will all start with “Cynap-Pure-” followed by the name of the room. Scroll through the list to find the display for your current room and click on that.

4. At that point your whole screen should be sharing to the in-class display.
5. To stop sharing, again swipe down from the top right of your screen to bring up the Control Center.
6. Select the Screen Mirroring icon again (it should be highlighted now).

7. This will bring back up the Screen Mirroring Control we saw earlier. There will now be an additional button at the bottom of the control labeled “Stop Mirroring.” Hit that to stop your screen sharing session.

Windows and Chromebook devices via Chromecast

Chromecast works directly through the Google Chrome browser and will work on both Chromebooks and Windows devices.

To access it, do the following:

1. Open up Chrome.
2. Click on the “Customize and Control” (with the three vertical dots) icon at the top right of the browser.

3. From the menu that drops down, select “Save and Share…”

4. A sub-menu will pop out with additional options. From the choices available, select "Cast..."

5. You will then see a menu with all the devices available to cast to. The classroom display names will all start with “Cynap-Pure-” followed by the name of the room.

6. Note that, by default, selecting any of the displays at this point will cast only your current Chrome tab to the classroom display. If you prefer to share your whole screen, (A) click on the arrow next to “Sources,” and (B) from the choices available choose “Cast Desktop."

7. Once that’s done, you can click on the correct room’s display to share your whole desktop to the classroom.

8. When you are done sharing, you can stop casting by (A) clicking on the screen icon at the top right of your Chrome Browser, and then (B) clicking the “stop” icon next to the room display’s name.

Windows Devices using vSolution Cast App

In addition to Chromecast, Windows devices can also connect to Cynap using the vSolution Cast app, created by the makers of the Cynap devices. If you haven’t already, download the app from the vendor's website. You may want to create a shortcut for it on your desktop for easy access.

Connect your device with the following steps:

1. Open the app.

2. A menu should open at the top of your screen listing all available Cynap devices. The classroom display names will all start with “Cynap-Pure-” followed by the name of the room. Find your classroom’s display from the list available and click on it.

3. The display’s name should appear in a dialog box with some controls beneath the name. To start sharing your desktop click the “Play” button under where it says “Start Session.”

4. You will see a dialog box with options for sharing content. You will want to (A) select the app or screen you want to share and then (B) click  the check at the bottom of the screen to confirm:

5. Your device should now be sharing to the classroom display.
6. When you are done sharing, click on the “handle” at the top center of your screen.

7. From the dialog box that drops down, click the “Stop” button under the name of your display.

Although Zoom is principally a web conferencing tool, it can also be used to share content from a tablet or mobile device to in-person students in rooms that don’t feature Cynap.

Getting Started

• Be sure your device has the mobile Zoom app (the app is available from both the Apple Store and Google Play store.)
• Go to the room’s AV Panel and make sure the in-class displays are turned on and that the classroom PC is selected as the presentation source.

Here are the steps to follow to share content from your device:

1. Connect to a Zoom session on the classroom PC. If you are already using Zoom for remote students or lecture capture, feel free to use that session. Otherwise, open Zoom on the classroom PC, log in and select “New Meeting” from the Home screen.

2. You may be prompted to select an audio conference option. Unless you are planning using the microphone on your mobile device, click "Join with Computer Audio" (A in the photo below). If you do want to use the microphone on your mobile device, click the "X" at the top right of the dialog box to join without audio (B). This will avoid any potential feedback later.

3. Once your meeting is up and running, make sure the Zoom window is on the larger monitor that shares to the classroom display.
4. Go to the controls at the bottom of your Zoom window, and (A) click on the caret next to the “Share Screen” button on the bottom of your Zoom session screen, and (B) click where it says “Advanced Sharing Options…”

5. From the dialog box that comes up, find the control labelled “Who can share?” and select the option labelled “All Participants.” Then close out of the control.

6. Before opening Zoom on your device, (A) click on the green shield icon at the top left of your session window and (B) get the Meeting ID and Passcode from the box that appears.

8. Open the Zoom app on your device without signing into an account. (If you are signed into your MCPHS account, you will want to sign out and then restart the app.)
9. From the initial Zoom screen on your Device, select “Join Meeting.”

10. This will bring you to a screen where you are prompted to enter the Meeting ID. In the field underneath where it says "Join Meeting", enter the ID number you pulled up on the classroom PC in step 5. Then click “Join.”

11. If you are asked for the passcode, enter the code you got along with the Meeting ID in step 6. Then click “Continue.”

12. You might be asked to join audio on your device at this point. Unless you will be using your device to speak to anyone attending class online, it's probably best to select "No audio", to limit the chance of feedback with the classroom PC. If you do use the audio on your device, make sure you're not also using the audio on the Zoom session running on your PC, first.

13. You should now be logged into the same meeting you started on the classroom PC. To share from your device, go to the meeting controls (their location may vary from device to device) and click the green button labeled “Share Content.”

14. This will bring up a menu with multiple options for sharing content. (The two most useful options are likely “Screen” and “Whiteboard.”) Click on one the available buttons to start sharing.

15. If you are sharing your screen, there will be one additional step. When you see the "Screen Broadcast" prompt (pictured below), you will need to click the Start Broadcast button to start your screen sharing.

16. When you are finished sharing, click on the "Stop Share" button in the Zoom controls