In my classes, I’ve long used slides as both notes to myself and something for students to use to help them structure their notes and help them in reviewing material (I try to avoid death by PowerPoint, of course!).
When choosing the application for creating my slides, though, I used to think I had to deal with two competing concerns:
I want to be able to wander around the classroom or to sit with my students in a discussion circle, as appropriate for the situation (which pushed me in the direction of such applications as PowerPoint and Keynote), and
I want to be able to quickly and easily share the slides with the students after class, without having to upload or convert anything (which pushed me in the direction of something like Google Presentations).
I no longer have to choose which of those concerns is more important to me. As I was getting ready for the spring semester, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a set of tools made by de Mobo.
The tools connect mobile phones and the Chrome browser (provided they’re on the same wifi network) so that they can interact with each other, making it possible to control web applications (Google Presentations, YouTube, Prezi, SlideShare, and Pandora are among the possibilities) from the phone. You install the relevant Chrome app or extension for what you want to do, and also install the de Mobo app on your smartphone (iOS and Android versions are available).
For my use case, I’ve installed Presentation Remote and the Android app. When I walk into my classroom, I just sign into Chrome on the classroom computer, and be sure the app on my phone is connected to the browser (the first time you use a particular computer, the Chrome app or extension will generate a QR code for you to scan with your phone to make the connection).
At that point, I can load whatever Google Presentation I want to use, and I’m free to roam about the room or sit wherever I’d like, and I can still quickly share the slides with my students after class in just a few mouse clicks. I’ve been using de Mobo regularly since the semester started, and it’s working very well for me thus far.
Have you tried de Mobo, whether for controlling presentations or with other web applications? Has it worked well for you? Let us know about your experience in the comments. If you know of other good tools for accomplishing similar tasks, let us know that, too!
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Creative Commons licensed Flickr photo by bonitoclub]