AirPlay: The Hidden Gem for Education in iOS 5

[Sam Gliksman]

One of the "quieter" new features of the new iOS 5 system release is the expansion of its AirPlay functionality. In fact, if you skim Apple's marketing for iOS 5 it trumpets a host of important new features while AirPlay is relegated to a "More features" section at the end.

 

You may already be familiar with Airplay. It's the feature on your iPad or iPhone that allows you to wirelessly stream photos, video and music from your iOS device to any external display such as an HDTV (through an Apple TV connection). It's a wonderful feature and its only limitation is that it has been restricted to streaming media wirelessly - it could not be used to display apps or your iPad screen. As a consequence, AirPlay streaming has been utilized predominantly at home rather than in the classroom. That has changed with the release of Apple's new iOS 5 operating system.

 

With iOS 5 you can now use AirPlay to "mirror" your entire iPad screen and display or project it. All that is required is an iPad 2, the new iOS operating system and an Apple TV (which sells for around $100) that connects to any TV, monitor or projector with an HDMI interface. You can project your iPad with a couple of simple steps ... and it works wirelessly! Here's how:

 

• Double click the iPad home button
• Slide your home screen to the right
• If you have an Apple TV on your wifi network then you will see the AirPlay button (see below)  
• Press the Airplay button and it display a list of all your enabled AirPlay devices
• Select your display and you will get an option to turn on mirroring (assuming your Apple TV is running iOS 5 as well)

As a teacher, you're no longer tethered to a cable at the front of your room. You're free to roam around the room and throw your iPad screen to any Apple TV connected display. Even better, you can also have student iPads enabled with mirroring and ask any student to project their screen! Melissa found something interesting on the web? You have them working in groups and you want to display and share their project? Ask them to display their iPad via AirPlay. The process of sharing, discussing and collaborating in class is far simpler when everyone can quickly display their screen for all to see.

 

Further. this wireless projection system can be implemented very simply and inexpensively. I'm currently working on one 1:1 iPad project with a small school and we're hanging 47" HDTVs and Apple TVs in every classroom (see example above). Once complete, every iPad in the class will be able to display to the HDTV wirelessly. The total cost per room is well under $1,000. That's a fraction of the cost of earlier wireless projection options and still significantly cheaper than standard cabled projection systems that make it very difficult to share student work (especially when you include the cost of replacement bulbs for projectors). Let's not even mention the cost of Smartboards...

 

In summary, AirPlay is a very simple method for promoting sharing and collaboration in your classroom ... and it's an option that comes at a relatively affordable cost.

 

Sam Gliksman
[e-mail]
Twitter: @samgliksman

 

 

[Bronwyn McLeod]

The apple TV and the iPad need to be on the same network for wireless mirroring to work. At school we have a PC network with enterprise security. We can connect the Apple TV to the network with an Ethernet cable but not wirelessly. This is a problem in our new library which has no cabled network points and relies on wireless access.
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
Can you offer any suggestions?
Thank you.

[Chris Russell]

I haven't tried the HDMI to VGA cords that are out there.  I was tempted to try, and those cords can be purchased on Amazon for less than a buck.  Online chatter seemed to indicate that the HDMI to VGA cable (not converter) would not work.

 

 But time was of the essence and I wanted to guarantee that it would work, so we invested it the HDMI to VGA converter which works.  $96 as mentioned below, from Amazon.  Monoprice sells one, but it is backordered until December.

[Sam Gliksman]

You can definitely use a VGA to HDMI adapter although I've heard from some users that some adapters don't handle the transfer of audio very well. They aren't that expensive - you may want to experiment with a couple.

[Frank Garufi Jr.]

Chris...

 

Thanks for the follow up. I'd like to take an Apple TV 2 and use it. The only connection I have though is a VGA HD 15 pin connector. Can I use any HDMI to VGA cable to plug the Apple TV 2 into??

 

Thanks!

[Chris Russell]

Frank,

 

You'll have to do one of two things.

 

1) To project wirelessly, you'll need a network, Apple TV, and HDMI to VGA adapter.

 

2) If you want to just connect with a cable, there's an iPad to VGA cable that you can use.  However--it doesn't stay plugged into the iPad very well.

[Frank Garufi Jr.]

Greg... I have to agree with your thoughts! Unfortunately, Apple still doesn't value the enterprise at all. None of the mobile devices can ever see or use anything that isn't in the same VLAN as the device. While I understand and agree with Apple's methods of keeping things extremely simple for the end users, it makes it extremely hard in the corp / enterprise environment for Network Admins.

[Greg Smith]

This is all great but I did not see mention if this plays on a corporate network. We use Aruba and in the past we have found that Apple's simple Bonjour style access does not work with more sophisticated access control strategies. Is this still the case?

[Frank Garufi Jr.]

I really want to try this with some of our iPad enthusiast faculty members. Can anyone recommend a cable or something I can use to connect the Apple TV2 to our Smart Board / Sony Projectors? I only have a VGA DH15 connection available.

[Sam Gliksman]

As a postscript, I was working with a teacher in a classroom with an HDTV and Apple TV today. Students are able to record podcasts and then easily broadcast them to the whole class by playing the podcast on their iPad and mirroring it to the Apple TV. It's very, very cool and really adds a whole new dimension to sharing.

[Chris Russell]

I was able to buy the components for wireless mirroring...$85 for a refurbished Apple TV, and a $95 HDMI to VGA adapter (made by View HD and sold on Amazon).  Note: our LCD projectors do NOT have HDMI inputs, and they were all purchased in 2009. 

 

It works well, although the Apple TV wouldn't update to its most recent format (4.4.1), but some reading this morning (TUAW?) mentioned that other Apple TV owners were not able to update from 4.3, either.

 

Netflix and videos on the iPad natively go widescreen.  I'm wondering if there is a setting which will allow Keynote to be widescreen as well...

 

Still, an 80" LED TV (Sharp Aquos) from Best Buy is $5000...while a SMART Board is still over $6000.  I'd go for the TV at this point...better visibility in all lighting conditions, no burnt out projector lights, and no SMART Board.