Rethinking the Chalkboard & Multiple Screens

Overview
Instead of writing on the chalkboard, Professor Ken Kamrin uses a Surface Tablet to make notes which are projected on a classroom screen. Prof. Kamrin can easily scroll backwards and forwards through his notes, sometimes adding, sometimes erasing. Using the Surface allows Kamrin to face the students while teaching, thus facilitating a better read on their comprehension.

In addition to writing notes, Kamrin also uses the Surface to make a real time audio recording of his lecture. After class, Kamrin posts both a screencast of the notes and the audio recording to the class website.

Educational Challenge
While he is lecturing during class, Kamrin would like his students to be able to easily see the previous page of his notes as it frequently contains information relevant to the current page. Unfortunately the projection screens, as they are configured in most MIT classrooms, only permit the same image to be projected on both screens.

Solution
With a configuration of special cables and adapters, Kamrin is able to re-route the image to the second screen so that it displays the previous page of notes. See below:

Next Steps
If you are interested in using the concepts from this case study in your teaching, please contact MITx Residential to speak with a consultant.