Barbelin 225 Technology <- Sean Forman <- You Are Here
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In case of problems with the machinery or if something breaks, you probably want to call IMC (x1770). For the computers, if you need something installed or there is a computer problem, you should contact our support person, Kevin Conaway (kc043105@sju.edu) through the room mailing alias bl225lab@sju.edu.
To turn the projector system on, touch the projector monitor which is the small pad to the right of the computer monitor built into the podium. To choose an output, press "Display a source" and that will cause all the possible media to be listed. The most commonly used ones for me are the podium pc and the document camera. We also have a VCR and laser disc player in the room. I've tried watching TV, but that doesn't appear to work. I don't believe we are hooked into the cable system yet. Video conferencing is also a possibility, but you should talk with IMC about that.To start up the projector, touch the source you wish to display. This will power up the projector and lower the screen. You can dim the room using the light switches to the right of the podium and the window screen switch.
Say you want to display a document for a minute and then go back to lecturing and then use the doc cam again 15 minutes later. You could "Exit to Logo" which powers down the system and raises the screen (this should be done when you are done with the system), or you can use Video Mute and Screen Control.
Video Mute will keep the projector on, but will darken the output, so it doesn't project any light onto the screen. Screen Control then allows you to raise the screen temporarily. This will effectively pause the projection system and allow you to use the white board again. Then when you wish to use the system again, just lower the screen and unmute the video.
The free standing pad on the right side of the podium allows you to control the screen output for the students in the class. It has many, many advanced features, but here are the usual ones you might use. In general, you will use only "Command Set A", though you could certainly dabble in the other stuff as well. There is a white mouse that is used to operate this system. It was formerly a touch screen, but that no longer works."Freeze All" and "Blank All" do just that. Freezing locks the keyboards and mice, while blanking blacks the computer monitors. Pressing both of these in succession will make all of the students screen black, so they won't be distracted during class.
"Transmit All" will transmit the contents of your PC to the student's monitors. This can also be used to transmit the contents of one student's monitor to all the others.
You can also do this to individual computers, or undo it to individual computers if for example you want to let someone work in the back of the room during your class.
Selecting one student's monitor on the room layout will transmit the contents of his monitor to the podium monitor. You can then transmit this information to all or some of the students, but I haven't seen a use for this yet.
"Clear" can get you out of trouble when you press the wrong buttons or incur some unforeseen result. This should also unfreeze all the computers and start you with a clean slate. Remember to unfreeze the computers or the students may be open to someone reading their files if they forget to log off when class ends.
If your podium PC does not project onto the screen, press "Instructor to Projector" and that should take care of it.
If something happens and you are not able to log into the podium PC or it is not working, but you can log into a student PC, you can still project info to the screen from the podium.
1) Login to a student machine. I would choose the handicap accessible one on the end of the first row, #7.
2) Go to the touch pad on the right of the podium showing the 24 classroom computers. Using the white mouse, click on Clear and then computer number #7. The podium monitor should now display the screen from computer #7.
3) Click Kbd/Mouse Control, which now gives you control of that computer.
4) Click Trainee to Projector.
5) Now you can display that machine to the projector as before.
6) When done, press clear to reset the system and then be sure to log off the machine you logged into.
There are many, many different ways to use the smart board. You can do all of your lecturing on it using dry erase markers, record this information and then publish it to a website. It also does some handwriting recognition as part of this as well, but does not recognize math symbols.The main parts are the board, the tray and the eraser. The board is sensitive to what is written on it, but it will only record information when used in conjunction with the tray and the eraser. The software uses a missing marker in the tray to deduce which color you want the written material to appear on the screen. If all the markers are in their tray then nothing appears on the screen. This means if you are broadcasting to the students or on the projector something on the podium pc, you can mark it up using the smart board.
In order to do so you can remove a marker from the tray, write on the white board and look over your shoulder to see what is happening on the screen, or you can remove the marker and then use the mouse to mark up the screen. Then you erase the markings on the screen replace the marker and move the mouse or hit some key. The eraser works the exact same way. Remove the erase from the tray and erase on the board, or if you use the mourse, the mouse will become an eraser.
Again there are a lot of other capabilities you should consider, but this is how I've used it.
The document camera is projected using the instructions above. It has some nice features. The on/off switch is on the right side of the body, as is the switch for turning the backlight (for transparencies) on and off. It has zoom buttons placed near the top of the camera on the lens. The lenses rotate using the knob on the top of the camera and the who lens head rotates as well. It does a fine job with pages from a textbook, so you can show figures or tables from a book very easily and it shows up quite well on the projector's screen.
Three or four times during the first semester the room was open, my class was interrupted by an alarm, so you aren't alone if it happens during your class. Security (x1111) has the key codes for the alarm pad and they open and close the room in the morning and evening. You can either use the phone in the room or if that doesn't work the phone in Agnes's office is the nearest other phone. I'm not entirely certain how the room is setup, but there is a fiber optic cable between all the monitors and I think that is the most common cause of problems, and I believe propping the door can also cause some problems.
If you have suggestions for other stuff or come into a situation not covered here, let me know and I will add it to the page.
Created: September 4, 2001