We have been using the Logitech 5500 series bluetooth mouse and keyboard to let teachers hand the keyboard and mouse for the smartboard around the room, and all 28 have worked very well for giving them freedom from being chained to the teacher desk.
... Paul Paul Johnson St. Francis High School ________________________________________ From: tech-geeks-boun...@tech-geeks.org [tech-geeks-boun...@tech-geeks.org] On Behalf Of Charlie Niehaus [cnieh...@altamont.k12.il.us] Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 9:45 PM To: 'Tech-Geeks Mailing List' Subject: Re: [tech-geeks] Document Camera installation We have a document cameras (Elmo in most cases - AverMedia in others) with SmartBoards in almost every classroom. We hooked them up using USB cables. This makes it easy for the teacher to fire up the software and use the camera with the projector / SmartBoard and the wiring was a LOT easier. The software gives them things like screen capture and zoom etc. I would think twice about tying down the cable into the wall / desk etc. We have found that by giving the teachers a long USB cable it allowed them to put the camera on a desk, table, floor etc. and they can use it in a number of ways they could not have if it was "stuck" on a short cable on a desk. In our Home Ec. Room I had a 50' cable that allowed the teacher to drag the camera over into the kitchen and play Rachel Ray a little bit, and the picture was on the projector. She was even going to do some video recording. (Too bad we riffed that position.) Yeah - there is the trip hazard but we have not had one accident yet. (Yeah - I know I am inviting one since I said this!) Since our computers have USB ports in the front most of my teachers unplug the doc camera when not in use and set it back out of the way. Some even stick it in a cabinet. We actually used the long USB cables from the SmartBoards and then used some Cat5 extender units to connect the Smartboard to the computer across the room in most cases. We used the USB cables from the Document cameras to connect the Cat5 extender units to the boards. It actually makes for a very clean looking install since the only thing near the board is a cat5 cable coming down from the ceiling (in a cable cover). The only complaint we have is that some teachers feel they are too far away from the keyboard and they do not like the on screen keyboard. I am going to try some wireless keyboards and see if that does the trick. If you want to come down and look over our cameras and other stuff let me know. (I know it is a long haul. Get my sister to drive you here!) PS - if you are imaging your computers you might consider installing the software for ALL the different models of document cameras on every box. This has saved my rear a few times when a teacher "borrows" a camera from another room; they plug it in and it just works. -----Original Message----- From: tech-geeks-boun...@tech-geeks.org [mailto:tech-geeks-boun...@tech-geeks.org] On Behalf Of Matt Adams Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 11:29 AM To: Tech-Geeks Mailing List Subject: Re: [tech-geeks] Document Camera installation We have just about every classroom set up with a projector and an Elmo brand document camera, and the smartboards are slowly making their way there as well. We used to connect the Elmo through the monitor port passthrough, but have found on the newest model of Elmo, it had to actually be on for it to pass the signal through to the projector. That, and if you simply connect the elmo to the projector with the monitor cable, you don't get to utilize the smartboard software in conjunction with the Elmo. So instead we plug the Elmo into the PC with the included USB cable, and use the enclosed software to interface with it. Then our PC connects to the projector. Matt Matt Adams Assistant Director of Technology Winnebago Schools >>> "Michael T. Bendorf" <bendo...@a-ccentral.us> 9/29/2010 11:16 AM >>> I believe we are going to get several document cameras. I am not asking for suggestion on which brand/model to look at. I am not clear on how best to "install" them. As far as I can tell there will need to be a cable of one kind or another running up to a projector... Has anyone found an elegant way to route cables that allows for flexibility without a mess? --Michael T. Bendorf-- Technology Administrator A-C Central C.U.S.D. #262 217.476.3312 ext. 2019 DID #: 217.476.6019 Cellular: 217.306.6824 "I'm trying to teach myself to ask the same questions that you do during your lectures so that I do not need you any more." 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