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

 

 

[Jeremy Dorn]

You'd only need Apple IDs if you want to use iCloud for file backup/transfer/storage.

 

Tested both AirPlay and AirServer (the Mac/PC side of the app), no go on mirroring. Got an email from AirServer support when I asked about adding Mirroring support. It seems it uses Apple's FairPlay encryption which has not been released to 3rd Party developers.

[Sam Gliksman]

There's no need to use any Apple IDs at all on your Apple TV if you're just using it to mirror iPads.

[julian coultas]

It's great we love it but.....

Any more experience on managing Apple ID's across school  with multiple Apple TV's?

 

 

 

[Mike Guerena]

AirServer is another option, but have to jailbreak any iOS device that will use it. Which will not happen in my district.

[Jeremy Dorn]

AirPlayer, that was it

http://ericasadun.com/ftp/AirPlay/

Saddly I only have one AirPlay capable iOS device on which to test it. :-(

[Jeremy Dorn]

I remember one of the TUAW weblogers wrote a small untility that would pick-up on AirPlay signals as well. There was another 3rd party paid program that is out there as well. A distant thought would be to try and run multiple instances of these programs and do a student "video wall" as you can with most laptop setups.

AirPlay really should be picked up by Apple Remote Desktop. There seems very little reason no to put that functionality in there. But you know me, "more admin tools now" man.

Is AirDrop functioning yet? I haven't had time to go digging through iOS 5 since the update. Still nashing my teeth at how convoluted it seems to be to Pages/Keynote files moved between iOS devices that doesn't involve "the cloud", especially Apple's cloud.

Again "more admin tools now" I wish we could set Mac Servers as "the cloud" instead of iCloud. I'd be much happier.

[Sam Gliksman]

I believe you can but you'll get reduced video quality.

[Kim Warner]

could you use a hdmi to vga3 cable if you dont have a projector with hdmi in your classroom?

[Sam Gliksman]

You need to make sure that you give each Apple TV a unique name. We have named them according to the room number. When you connect you get a list of available devices and select the one that's in your room.

[Joel Backon]

Apple told me to be careful using Apple TV in every classroom because it uses a broadcast wireless protocol. They said they couldn't guarantee which iPad screen you would see if the classrooms were in close proximity. Have you run into any issues?