How to use AR in your classroom despite limited tech
AR is fast becoming one of the best new ways to engage students in the classroom. Whether it be getting children up and exploring the many interactive elements of AR environments, or enhancing learning through vivid visuals, AR can be an incredibly valuable tool to implement in the classroom. Realistically though, tech can be expensive: not everyone has access to multiple tablets, so it can be hard to engage students with AR when there aren’t enough screens to go around.
However, a lack of tech doesn’t have to prevent you from using AR in your classroom. In this guide, we’ve highlighted some of the ways you can bring AR to your classroom with just one iPad and some other tech that you most likely already have.
So if you have access to just one iPad, or even if you have the tech but find that getting out multiple iPads is too time-consuming, check out these tricks below to get the most out of AR with your class.
Choose a leader
Whilst these tips will help you use AR in the classroom with less tech, not everyone will be able to have a hands-on experience. Instead, you’ll first need to choose a leader who will guide the experience for the rest of the group to follow along with.
Decide if it’s going to be led by you, a student or a group of students. This solves ‘the everyone crowding around the iPad dilemma’. As you might expect, children will all want to try using the tech so its key to come up with a process before you begin. We suggest either coming up with a rota for letting each student have a go on the tablet or simply guide the experience by yourself, following student input and suggestions.
Choose your tech
After you’ve decided on how to lead the lesson, there are several options for how to share the experience with everyone in the class. If you have a computer monitor, a projector or TV, these are all the different ways to connect your iPad and bring AR to the front of the classroom via a bigger screen. The larger the screen, the easier it is to include larger groups of students, so here’s a list of options to see which one’s best for you.
Mac Monitor
Okay, so let’s start with the easiest; below are the simplest methods to connect your iPad to your Mac monitor. Not to fear if you don’t have a Mac, simply skip to the next section below where we cover non-Mac connections.
Did you know you can mirror your iPad screen to your Mac by just using your iPad USB charging cable? It’s a simple and quick solution to reaching more students in the classroom by transporting your AR to a bigger screen. We’ve listed out the steps here:
- Connect your iPad to your Mac via your USB charging cable.
- Launch the application QuickTime Player.
- Click the tab “File” on the top left of the screen, then click “new movie recording” from the drop-down menu.
- Finally, change the camera input to your iPad, this should be under the drop down arrow at the side of the record button. If you can’t see your iPad, make sure the wire is properly connected to your device.
Note: As we’re just using this application to preview the iPad’s screen, you won’t need to press record — just previewing it is fine. If you encounter any problems, there’s a short guide which offers help on how to use the QuickTime app.
SAFETY NOTE: Whilst using cables can be a quick and easy solution to giving your class a great classroom AR experience, remember to be careful! These cables can be a potential tripping hazard, particularly when children are so focused on the AR world in front of them. Be sure to make the class aware of them, or better yet, keep hold of the wire so that children always remember it’s there. Generally, you’ll have the best AR experience playing wirelessly.
Non-Mac monitors, Projectors or T.V
Don’t have a Mac? That’s fine! Simply use a projector, TV or monitor instead and plug the iPad directly into it. With an adaptor and either a HDMI or VGA cable, you’ll be good to go. You’ll need a Lightning Adapter for HDMI or VGA if your iPad uses a lightning cable, or for a USB-C adapter if it doesn’t. If your school doesn’t have one, these adaptors typically cost less than £20/$25 and can, of course, be shared between teachers to bring AR to every classroom. If you’re not sure what type of adapter you should be using, perhaps ask your school’s IT technician if they could help.
For all the specific details, see Apple’s advice for connecting your iPad using an adapter here.
Promethean Whiteboards
If your school uses Promethean Whiteboards then you’re in luck. You can actually use Promethean’s ActivCast to mirror your iPad screen and avoid any need for cables. Simply swipe down on your iPad screen and select AirPlay or Screen Mirroring. From there, select your whiteboard from the list and you’re ready to start sharing your screen.
If you can’t find your whiteboard on the list, you may need to download ActivCast on the iPad for this to work. If this is the case for you, you can find the full details on how to connect your device on the Promethean website.
Prowise Touchscreen
If you have a Prowise, you can use Prowise Central to get wirelessly connected. Simply open up Apple AirPlay on your iPad and choose to share your screen with your Prowise device.
If you have any issues or would like more information about sharing your screen with a Prowise device, head to their website.
What if I have another brand of interactive whiteboard?
Whilst we’ve listed ways to use Promethean and Prowise devices, many other similar devices are also capable of screen sharing. If your school uses another brand of interactive whiteboard or screen, check their website to see if and how you could link your tablet.
Apple TV
Finally, if you happen to have an Apple TV, this is great as it also eliminates the need for cables. It’s definitely the most niche option here but we wanted to include it as its one of the simplest methods for getting connected. All you need to do is use the Airplay feature found in the drop-down menu on your iPad. Click on Screen mirroring then select your Apple TV as your device. For a full guide, you can read it all here.
Start exploring
Hopefully at least one of these options can help you inspire your students by introducing AR experiences into your classroom. If you’re looking for some free AR content to use, why not start with our AR Roman history resources featuring a life-like recreation of the Colosseum? It’s just one example from our ever-growing list of AR models and apps that are all available completely free from the Twinkl website. There’s no need to download any additional apps or software, simply click on the resource and it’ll open automatically. Simply enjoy sharing AR with your class!
If you want an even more interactive experience look out for our newly updated Little Red Coding Club, rebuilt from the ground up to be more immersive, and have strong links to the KS1 computing national curriculum.
About Steven Brammah
Steven is a Lead AR Applications Engineer on Twinkl’s App Development Team. During his time with the company, he’s overseen the development of several internationally-acclaimed AR education apps including Little Red Coding Club, ARchitect and Twinkl Robotics.
