Google Cast for Education

Since our 1:1 rollout, one of the most popular requests from teachers is a way for students to quickly share to a central display -- mainly, a projector screen.  There are various “sharetech” devices we have out in our district environment that help with this (AppleTV, Chromecast, Screenbeam), and the issues usually boil down to:

• Two of these are not device agnostic (AppleTV only work with iOS devices, Screenbeam with WIndows).
• This sharetech sometimes works inconsistently on school wifi, especially when students are on a different network than the teacher or the device itself.
• The sharetech can be pricey, making a “per classroom” equitable solution costly.
• Since many of our (older) projectors are VGA but these devices are HDMI, it requires adapters or special cables, costing even more money.

This year I discovered Google Cast for Education.  (Note: only people with G Suite for Education accounts can be “receivers,” but anyone with an updated Chrome browser can cast.)  It’s free, and works through the Internet, which means it doesn’t matter if people are on different networks.   Still, it sounded too good to be true.  Are you telling me that even on school networks, so long as the teacher is connected to his/her projector, a student could just share their screen with a click? Without buying any hardware?  For free??

After a request by Amy Dickenson (a fifth grade teacher at Painted Stone) for ways that students can share their screens, I took an investigative plunge.  As far as the answer to those three questions above, the short answer is: yes!  I next enlisted Ms. Dickenson and Dan Edelen (teacher at the 3PT program at Clear Creek) to try it out.  More on their findings below!

Here is a short (1:25) video overview of the tool from Google:

How does it work?  First, make sure your actual browser is logged into your G Suite for Education account.  Click on the little button in the top right of your browser that has your name.  Make sure the account shown is your G Suite — if not, log out and log in with the correct credentials.  

Next, the teacher should install the app.  Students do NOT have to add the app in order to cast to someone, so long as their Chrome browser is version 52 or higher.

Google has full directions for Google Cast online, but here’s an overview.

The first time you launch the app, it will ask to establish some settings.  

• Choose a “Receiver Name” — that’s you!   (Something like “Mr. Watson’s Computer” is probably good enough.)
• I would recommend checkmarking “Automatically full screen new presentation sessions” but leave the other two uncheckmarked.
• You can always change the Settings later.

You are now ready to receive!   (You can close the app at any time and launch it when you like.  Remember, no one can cast to you unless you have the app running, and a student can never “hijack” your computer.)

In order for students to “find” you, teachers have to add student names to allow them to “see” your device.  Click the blue Share button while casting and add their Google account emails and the appropriate permission level.  (Can they present automatically as soon as you are casting, or have to request permission?)  This interface is very similar to how you would share a Google Doc with others.  Note that you only have to add the names once, not every casting session.  Also, Google Cast for Education automatically pairs up nicely with Google Classroom (you can set up permissions for an entire class instead of individual students).

Students can cast to the teacher’s device by:

• clicking the Google Cast app icon in their Chrome browser and choosing the correct receiver name (if not installed, that’s ok…try the other two options)
• right click inside their current Chrome tab screen, choose “Cast to…” and choosing the receiver
• clicking on the Menu (three lines) or More (three dots) in the top right of browser, choose “Cast…” and choosing the receiver

You can choose to cast just the current Chrome tab or your entire desktop.

One last note: as a teacher, you could cast from one of your devices to another of your devices attached to the projector.  (For example, from your laptop to your desktop computer plugged up to the projector.)   Just follow the student instructions on your “mobile” computer to cast to the “fixed” computer, and follow the teacher directions on the receiving device.  You do NOT have to put yourself on the permission list.

An educator made a comprehensive video showing how to use Google Cast with shots of the teacher and student screens (5:34):

How could you use it?  Ms. Dickenson discussed how this makes student sharing so much easier.  For example, she has a student who will teach a seminar on how to turn Slides into a movie; the student presentation can be shared without plugging in and out of a projector.  It’s also faster casting versus sharing through Google Drive; with a click, the class can see the student tab/desktop.  With a “fixed” computer in place, others can easily be mobile and share (students AND co-teachers).  As Ms. Dickenson put it, “I like it, because it won’t always be my material on display -- it will be the students, too.  It gives them a voice, and help them believe what they create is important and they can change the minds of classmates, and even the world.”

Mr. Edelen was excited about the idea of creating stations around the classroom, centered around displays and Chromecasts.  (The ability to cast to a Chromecast as well as a receiver computer is built into the function and app.)   Sharing can occur at a rapid speed.  He also discussed experimenting with possibly casting a tab to one display while casting his desktop to another!

Downsides?  When I played with this on our network, I’ve noticed that when you set person for “Request permission,” there may be a long delay for the request to show up on the receiver device, or it may not show up at all.  You may need to play with permission access to get this to work; while “request access” is likely preferred, try “present automatically” if you have trouble.  (I should note that Ms. Dickenson and Mr. Edelen did not have any trouble.)  

If students install the Google Cast for Education app, they could cast on each other’s devices.   This could get troubling without the proper digital citizenship culture, but remember: you can only see a cast if the app is running, and casting can be controlled if the receiver makes sure they have to give permission first.  Also, you could argue that students can already share a Google file with “bad stuff” too.  

I hope that Google Cast for Education creates an easy and free way for students to share their presentations, exhibitions, and thinking in a whole class environment!  Be sure to share your stories and ways to use Google Cast below in the Comments.

Odds and Ends: TUIT, TodaysMeet, Outlook Popups, Bulb Life, AppleTV Snoozing

I'm nearly at the end of my embedded initial stay here at Southside Elementary.  As the time whittles down at this wonderful school, here are some odds and ends.

Let's start out today with a #ShelbyTUITshoutout to Southside's Sarah Gregory!  During a drop-in yesterday, Ms. Gregory had her third graders posting questions via iPads in a TodaysMeet room.   Great way to integrate discussion strategies with technology!

Sarah Gregory from @tigernewsSCPS using @TodaysMeet on iPads with 3rd graders! @shelbycountysch #ShelbyTUITshoutout pic.twitter.com/XZPaiOqlPL
— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) September 2, 2014

TodaysMeet is a popular and free "backchanneling" tool. Teachers can create a chat room for just an hour or have it open up to a year.  Students enter the room, give their name, and can begin replying to each other and the teacher.  Once finished, you can print out a transcript of the entire session.  It can be a useful way of making discussion more equitable and getting participation from all members, particularly if paired with a rubric and stated expectations of quantity and quality.  I particularly loved using it while watching videos; students were much more engaged, practiced their visual literacy skills in a way I could observe and assess, and I could quickly answer questions and probe students to think deeper without ever hitting pause.  Over the summer, TodaysMeet did a major upgrade.  Now teachers can create an account where their created rooms are "saved" under their profile.  Among other new features are moderation tools, such as the ability to delete specific posts. I highly recommend TodaysMeet, and for some different ways you could use it in a classroom, read this article.

Moving on!  I have three quick edtech tips today:

• By default in Outlook, new emails and alerts will pop up on your screen.  However, when using a computer that is projecting to a screen, you are unintentionally sharing that parent's email,  child's medical information, IEP meeting requests, etc. with other students.  For MacBook Airs, turn off the popups by opening Outlook program, go to Outlook (next to Apple icon at top left of screen), Preferences, Notifications & Sounds, and uncheck mark the box for "Display an Alert on my Desktop."
• Nothing taxes a projector bulb more than leaving it on a blue screen for hours, or worse, overnight.  Bulb replacement is a major expense for a technology budget. If you are going to not be projecting for a long period of time, please turn the projectors off.  At Southside Elementary, we have two projectors in each room (SMARTBoard and secondary ceiling) that unfortunately work by the same remote.  If both come on but you only want to use one, use your body as a shield: turn your back to the projector you want to keep on, point the clicker to the projector you want off (I hold the remote clutched to my chest, like I have T-Rex arms), and turn it off.
• Some teachers have reported problems with their AppleTV, but it's just asleep.  Look for a small white light that indicates it's awake, if you can see it (sometimes the SCPS sticker is over it). If not (or you're not sure), press any button on the AppleTV remote to wake it up.  If your AppleTV is on but you don't see your room number come up for AirPlay, try resetting the device: go to Settings, General, Restart.

I'll be posting an interview with SSE's Teacher of the Year by the end of the week!

TUIT: Brandon Clark, SSE

As I've said in a previous post, Southside Elementary is in a brand new building, and inside is a host of sparkling new technology.  The installation process of intelligent classrooms is finally complete, and as district personnel go through room by room to make sure everything works as advertised, teachers are just now beginning to let the edtech rip.

While on that upswing, today I observed Brandon Clark, a second grade teacher here at Southside.  There are great edtech educators here, but the totality of the way Brandon integrates tech into learning (and in particular, uses the tool I will describe below) warrants him a #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

When I entered his room, I first noticed a learning objective projected on his SMARTboard, which made the focus of the lesson clear.  His students were doing station work.  Some were "analog": reading print books silently, reading a print book aloud to a partner, writing a response in their composition notebooks.  But others worked digitally.  A group sat on the floor around the teacher's MacBook Air, watching a story video play while listening through wireless headphones.  And then, the wow moment happened.

I noticed the room's second projector had the class's ClassDojo site up.  (More about ClassDojo in a moment.)  Clearly a computer was AirPlaying to the projector's AppleTV, but I couldn't figure out where.  So I asked Brandon.

"Oh, it's from an iPad," he said, motioning me to a table.  An iPad sat in front of a second-grader.  She was reading a print book in her hand, and occasionally looking around, then down, touching the screen. "She's our Dojo Accountant for the week and helps us keep track and assigns points."

What?  I was admittedly dumbfounded.  What a wonderful leadership opportunity for a student!  What a way to make technology (literally) be on all sides of a classroom! And did I already mention this was a class of second graders??

To top it off, Brandon and I talked about the newly installed 3D document camera that he's already used in class.

Mr. Clark, you deserve your #ShelbyTUITshoutout!  Keep pushing the envelope of integrated edtech.

*****
What is ClassDojo?  Basically, it's a digital way to track behaviors, actions and attitudes of students.  Besides a site, it's also available as an app.  Students are given colorful, cartoony avatars and the teacher (or a Dojo Accountant!) gives or takes points away.  Areas of assessment include Curiosity, Taking a Risk, or Teamwork.  Point distribution is saved, progress can be tracked individually or as a whole class, and results can easily be shared with parents.  The reward for students is cashing in their points for upgrades determined by the teacher, such as changing their avatar or a real-world gift such as having lunch with the teacher.  I can't say I've personally seen its use in high school, but it's a favorite among elementary and middle school teachers.

ClassDojo has been around for years, but you haven't checked it out recently, give it a look.  A recent upgrade is a separate iOS app that works parallel with it: ClassDojo Messenger.  You can communicate in real-time, even sending pictures or a voice message.  (Through the site, you can also send parents attachments of other files.) You can also broadcast a note to all parents.  You cannot send a message to a student, or teacher to teacher. A nifty extra is the ability to see when parents read the message. In fact, the ClassDojo Messenger App can work by itself without setting up a class on the site.

TeacherCast recently interviewed ClassDojo to talk about their app, and the last three minutes of the clip covers other new changes with their site.  The video is embedded below.

Do you use ClassDojo and/or their message app?  What age level?  What do you think of the site?  Be sure to leave your comments below.