Tuesday, October 25, 2011

AppleTV, Airplay, and VGA

I really love the AppleTV and AirPlay combo which allows me to mirror my iPhone 4s and iPad2. However, if I am going to move to the iPad as my presentation device, I would like to use it wirelessly, too. And, more importantly, the iPad's 30-pin connector port can be used to keep it charged, rather than being taken up by the VGA dongle.


After some discussions with Steve Dembo (@teach42), he told me he had used a device to do this already. I did my research, did some reading, and decided to try it out. The device I used is called the "LinkStyle HD Video Converter" and is available via Amazon.


A couple of notes:
A simple VGA to HDMI connector will not work for this purpose.
For hookup to a television monitor, you may need a pin-pin VGA cable. (The converter box has a port, as does my television.)
Since VGA does not carry audio, you will need a separate audio cable. The converter box has an 1/8" jack (headphone and computer speaker size) for audio out. You can plug speakers right into the converter or use adapters to get it to whatever your audio output device needs.


It was easier to create a graphic then explain the process, so you will see that below. 






Click on image to enlarge


Addendum (5/2/12): This VGA to HDMI device, the Kanex ATVPro, apparently works with AppleTV with no power source....nice solution!

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Serendipitous Discoveries


I am creating a presentation dealing with online tools and utiities for my January webinar for the edWeb.community, PD in Action, and I am learning some new features of the tools that I have used for a long time! It is always a good thing to go back and re-visit the features of the tools because, over time, they all become better and better!

For example, I am typing this blog entry in ZohoWriter and I am going to post it directly to my blog from within ZohoWriter. It will be interesting to see how that works out.​ (Well, I could not do a direct post, but I was able to save it out of ZohoWriter as HTML and past the HTML into Blogger. I assume I could not do it since I have a custom Blogger URL.)

In addition, when doing research for the presentation dealing with strategies for the role of teacher as facilitator to support student learning, I bumped up against the "flipped classroom" model. I had been hearing about it for a couple of years, but never really had investigated how it works and the impact it has on student learning. (Where have I been?) What a great model! 
I have to give it more thought, but I do not know if every teacher can totally "flip" their classroom. A blended model of some "flipped" days and some "non-flipped" might be a great topic for a PLC and for teacher or curriculum team goal-setting for a school year. Here is a overview of the model from the teachers who developed it, Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann.



Wonder what other discoveries I will find today?

BTW,  If you are interested in the upcoming webinar, just sign up for the "PD in Action" community and you will find the information about the next four months of presentations.