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Published on May 22nd, 2012 | by Jeff Herb

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Apple TV in the Classroom

 

Instructional technology takes so many forms. In some buildings that may mean simply having a computer lab of desktop computers. In others, you may find SMART Boards and laptops in every room. And, in some of the more advanced classrooms, you may find an Apple TV serving as a media hub for a teacher (and possibly students) with an iPad. The question, “What can I do with an Apple TV in the classroom?” has been asked of me quite a bit – this post should help to identify how to set it up, what it can do, and some ways you can use it in the classroom.

What is Apple TV?

Before we talk about how to configure/set it up, it makes sense to get a working understanding of what the device actually does.

The Apple TV:

  • lets you stream the movies and TV shows available on iTunes to the HDTV or Projector connected to the Apple TV
  • stream Netflix content
  • allows you to stream content from iOS devices using Airplay
  • Display your iPad 2,3/iPhone 4S screen on your HDTV or projector via Airplay Mirroring

The Apple TV points of consideration:

  • The Apple TV really is most beneficial if you have iTunes, an iOS device, or are a Mac based school.
  • The Apple TV is not a computer. It really does rely on other devices to make it most functional.
  • Connection possibilities are limited. HDMI is the main output. There are ways around this, however. See here.

 

How to Set it up in Your Classroom

 

First things first. Determine what you will be connecting it to – and that will determine how you will set it up. If your classroom has an HDMI enabled device (HDTV or a projector with HDMI input) you are good to go, setup will be a breeze.

If you do not have an HDMI capable device in your classroom, consider purchasing this device to convert the signal to VGA so you can output from the Apple TV to any screen that has a VGA input. The majority of projectors and interactive whiteboards have this type of connection, making this accessory a great little product. Also, note that the accessory has an audio out port, preserving the audio from the HDMI cable, something that many devices like this do not do well (or at all).

The next step is connecting the Apple TV to your network. Obtain the wireless key from your IT coordinator and simply enter that when prompted when you first plug in your Apple TV. If the ATV has been setup before, just navigate to Settings -> Network and enter the setup for a new wireless network.

If your IT person is not interested in telling you the password, see if they will set it up for you. If this even fails, all hope is not lost. If you have a Mac, you can quickly create an AdHoc network to which you can connect your iPad and your Apple TV. Mind the fact that you will no longer be connected to the internet, but many of the uses don’t require an active connection.

 

Uses in the Classroom

 

This is when the Apple TV gets fun. Each person I talk to has a different use for their Apple TV, but the general method of use is pretty much the same. I will take you through some of the logistical methods of use that will then let you apply your own needs of use to the ATV easily.

The most common use of the Apple TV in a classroom is iPad screen mirroring. Thanks to AirPlay, the iPad 2 and above and the iPhone 4S will let you wirelessly display your device’s screen on a HDTV/Projector that is connected to your Apple TV. This is great for the classroom as sharing Apps and tutorials via the iPad are becoming more popular.

Considering mirroring works iOS wide, you can share just about anything you do on your iPad with your class. Here are some ways we (and our friends) use the Apple TV in the classroom:

  • YouTube videos
  • Seamless transition between video clips (comparison between renditions of a play, perhaps)
  • Annotate documents live with your students
  • Display pictures of student/teacher work
  • Demonstrate apps
  • Play review games (many free ones available on the app store)
  • Subscribe to Netflix? Show relevant documentaries or shows.
  • Rent thousands of titles from the iTunes store.
  • Use as an interactive whiteboard (whiteboard apps)
  • Access to iTunes U videos
  • Use of the Khan Academy app
  • Creative project presentations (student ice-breaker collages)
  • Walk the room while still remaining connected
  • In a 1:1 iPad deployment, students can share their screen on the Apple TV
  • Use as a document camera
  • And many more (as many of these can be easily expanded upon)

 

Starting up iPad Mirroring

 

So, you have some good uses in the classroom. Here’s how you being mirroring your iPad’s screen to the Apple TV.

1. Turn on the TV/Projector connected to the Apple TV.

2. Ensure each device is on the same network.

3. Double tap the home button on the iPad.

4. Swipe to the right until you see the options below:

5. Tap the button that is blue in the image above. This displays the available devices for use with AirPlay.

6. Tap on your Apple TV’s name and then slide Mirroring to ‘On’.

7. That’s it – your iPad should now be showing on the screen connected to your Apple TV!

 

Final Thoughts

 

For $99, you really can’t beat it. If you don’t have an interactive whiteboard, but you do happen to have an iPad, this is a really cheap way to enable whiteboard functionality (with so much more, in my opinion).

The freedom the Apple TV gives you to engage with students around the classroom (since you’re not tethered to a cable) is invaluable. For those who rely on technology in the classroom but also love moving throughout the room, this is the device you needed yesterday.

We are constantly coming up with uses for the Apple TV, you will to. Getting it is really the first step – understanding how you will use it daily comes with trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try new things.

If you do come up with a cool way to use the Apple TV, please let us know! Post in the comments or tweet to me @InstTechTalk .

 

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About the Author

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Jeff Herb is an Educator, Blogger, and Podcaster focusing on Instructional Technology and finding ways to innovate the classroom using technology. Follow Jeff on Twitter to keep up with the latest in Educational Technology.


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  • http://Www.nait.ca Dave Hughes

    These work great in the classroom. I have outfitted every classroom on our campus with Apple TVs. They are being used by the faculty continuously. They like the freedom that using the iPad wirelessly and untethered gives them. We are now moving to install them in our shops with dustproof flat panel TVs. Using the Apple TV in the shops and labs allow the instructor to use the camera on the iPad or iPhone to show the students on the screen something that in essence they were unable to do effectively prior.

    • @InstTechTalk

      Thanks for the comment, Dave. The camera idea is a great use of the Apple TV for demonstrations. I could envision our culinary labs using it for demonstrations as well.

      The common question I get for larger scale deployments is how you stop users from controlling other Apple TV devices. I have said that password protecting your Apple TV is probably the best way. Do you have any other ideas or suggestions?

      Thanks again!

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  • http://Www.westfieldnjk12.org Jodi Anderson

    Hi – do you have any thoughts about how to secure mirroring to “lock” the teacher device to the projector during the class period? The teachers I support frequently comment that some of their students think its fun to mirror their iPhones in the middle of a lesson to interrupt them.

    • @InstTechTalk

      Great question. You can actually set a password on the Apple TV to only allow approved devices to connect (as long as they know the password). It is really easy to change too, so you can update it any time you have to give it out.

  • Brett Trinkle

    I am a 5th grade math and science teacher. I am a couple of weeks away from getting wireless in my classroom with an Apple TV!

    I have been toying with an idea of allowing the students to take a photo with iPod’s that I have for the classroom, of their notes (or anything they would like to save) through an app that scans documents using a photo taken by the device. I am using Genius Scan, although I am sure there are several apps that will do this. The app saves it as a PDF file and looks just like a scanned document. I could post students notes and allow other students to use others notes to study by.

    This may seem somewhat silly by some because isn’t that what notebooks are for? Sure.. but what if the students took their notes using their desk and a dry erase marker. They could use the entire top of their desk for plenty of room for notes and examples, then take a photo of the desk prior to erasing it. The notes could be saved for use in studying for later on.. Just an idea. I have not had the opportunity to test it yet, but I will soon!

    • @InstTechTalk

      Wow, what a fantastic idea and innovative use of technology! I may be in touch with you soon to write this up into an article – I’m sure people would love to get details as to how you accomplish this!

      Thanks for the info!

  • Copyright Patrol

    Great ideas but your in violation of Itunes terms of use by streaming purchased movies to a projector. If you allow this you should also teach your students that plagiarism is ok. Even many of the network streaming sites don’t allow this. Go ahead and write an email asking for permission. You will receive a letter stating this is a violation of intellectual property rights.

    • @InstTechTalk

      Thank you for your comment, CP. I think I understand your issue being with iTunes and not copyright law, which is not affected by what I am discussing in the article.

      Your issue would only be true in a small number of cases where someone may have ‘hacked’ the ATV to work with something it is not supposed to. In 99% of the situations, teachers are legally hooking up their Apple TV to an HDMI enabled projector and streaming content that is OK for use under Fair Use copyright law. This has been reviewed and judged upon in several cases and does not pose a threat to teachers wanting to use content in their classroom.

      See here for judgement on streaming sites: http://www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/bm~doc/ibstreamingfilms_021810.pdf

      Thank you again for your comment!

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  • artfulmom

    I’m not sure you can help me, but I’m going to try. I got Apple TV for my classroom back in September and I keep running into a big problem with it and no one seems to know how to fix it. It works perfectly for about 20 minutes and then it kicks off. It no longer shows up on the iPads and the screen goes to the Apple TV home screen. When this happens I’m done of the schooldays, it won’t work anymore. It will work again the next day but only for about 20 minutes. Do you have any ideas ro suggestions on what is going on and how to fix it? Thanks

    • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

      Hi artfulmom, sorry to hear that you’re having trouble. Let’s try and figure it out!

      My first suggestion would be to make sure that the software on the iPads and the software on the AppleTV are up to date. There have been some updates to the AirPlay portion of iOS to address some of the drop out issues you are talking about. Check your iPad and Apple TV under the settings area to ensure they are both up to date.

      My second idea is that the network you’re operating on is actively closing the port that AirPlay uses when it notices constant use for a certain duration of time. This could be enabled on the network as a security feature. If you find that all your software is up to date, talk with your IT coordinator and ask them to make sure TCP ports 7000, 47000, 7100, 49228, 50259 and UDP 62572, 54780 are open. This will allow consistent access to the Apple TV without interruption. It doesn’t surprise me that you wouldn’t be able to use the mirroring again until the next day as many security policies have 24-hour lock outs.

      If either one of those don’t solve the problem, come on back and we will keep brainstorming.

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  • Caren

    Can Apple TV be used with ceiling mounted projectors? Thank you!

    • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

      Hi Caren,

      Yes, the Apple TV can definitely be used with a ceiling mount projector.

      There are a couple options here. You can plug it in wherever the cables end (likely at the front of the room) or you can plug it in and leave the ATV on top of the projector. With the second option, remember that the ATV needs its own power source, so an available outlet would be needed if you plan on setting it on top of the projector.

      Either way it will work, choose the best option for your setup. Let me know if you have more questions!

      • Angela W

        Jeff,
        We are currently using Apple TVs in each of our 1:1 rooms at our junior high school. Each room has it’s own WAP and we have Apple TV wi-fi, just for the devices. They worked very well for a few months, but then started malfunctioning. The tvs are set directly on the ceiling mounted projectors. Do you think the heat from the projectors could be overheating the tv devices and causing the problems? About a month ago we replaced 6 of the tvs, they worked fine and now 4 weeks later have started malfunctioning again. We have tried everything, hard wiring to internet, running updates, etc. nothing works consistently. Our teachers have their projectors on most of the day since we are a 1:1 with iPads and all of our curriculum is on line. Any help or ideas you can give me would be great. We love the Apple tvs, but are getting frustrated with this issue.

    • Matt Densley

      any projector can be mounted. So Yes you can. I love the Epson powerlite series projectors. Connect this to a 4×2 matrix HDMI switch then you can plug your apple tv and you can connect the teacher laptop also. You give the option to switch back and forth between the two sources.

      These switches will also split the Digital audio back out the Analog so you can plug the sound into a traditional stereo system.

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  • Bret

    It seems that the default setting when Apple TV kicks is to show the latest, hottest movies. This is a distraction to my 4th grade learners. I’m mirroring off my iPad2 to a projector. Anybody know a way around this?

    • Matt Densley

      when you are on the apple tv scroll to another ICon like general and then it wont show the movies on top.

      • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

        Great suggestion, Matt – thanks for sharing!

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  • Steve K

    I have found that Apple TVs can complicate the mirroring process because it does not like to work with advanced wifi networks. The Reflector App (reflectorapp.com) has been my first choice to display iPads wirelessly. This software, which you download to your computer, will enable you to connect iPad using airplay. So no HDMI is required. The same computer that has always worked, probably with VGA, will be projecting the image. Ohhh and a lot cheaper than the Apple TV.

    • Matt Densley

      This is true. But make sure that you are wiring you apple tv to the Network. this will take some pressure off your wifi network. Most schools Wifi is LACKING. So help it out a bit.

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  • APolehna

    Jeff, Thanks for this post it was good information.

    Mirroring functionality for any device platform would be so incredibly beneficial, and what is lacking is the need for the teacher or presenter to (on the fly) be able to control who is mirroring. Currently this doesn’t exist, but there are some companies working on it and it should be released by Q2.

    I caution readers about purchasing the HDMI to VGA & 3.5mm audio converter mentioned in the story; that is actually illegal as the VGA and audio could be run from the converter to a recording device allowing Netflix content to be reproduced. These boxes will be “blacklisted” with firmware updates and immediately useless. The best route is to update your projectors to a new unit with HDMI. For more info on this Google HDCP.

    For those not very familiar with AppleTV some key points of consideration:

    - Mirroring is not available with iPad1 or iPhones pre-iPhone 4G.

    - If you lose your ATV remote, the device is completely unusable until you get a new one or borrow one from another ATV. (It is a very small remote!)

    - 5 IOS compatible devices total can be configured to be connected at one time, when you want to add another you have to manually delete devices for new ones to connect.
    - If someone is allowed to mirror through an AppleTV, they will be able to mirror their screen from anywhere in the building as long as they are on the same wireless network until they are removed manually from the device.

    • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

      Andrew-

      Great comment — I really appreciate some of the points that were made that hadn’t been discussed yet.

      Good pointer about the HDMI to VGA adapter. We have seen many times before where firmware has restricted specific devices from working with iOS devices and this seems entirely possible – depending on agreements reached with companies such as Netflix. Especially since HDMI projectors have come so far down in price, it is not out of the realm of possibility to replace the projector and perhaps re-allocate the old projector to a room that doesn’t need advanced functionality.

      With regards to your pointers:

      1. Very true about the device restrictions for the older iOS devices – thanks!
      2. You can actually pair your ATV with your iOS device (using the Remote app), even if you lost the Apple remote. You just need to ‘add’ the AppleTV from the list of available resources in the Remote app and enter the code that shows up on the screen. Still better to have the supplied remote, though! :)
      3. I am interested to hear more about the limitations of the 5 devices. Is that connected simultaneously? Is that total recognized connections? I know that we have been able to cycle through more than 5 students on the Apple TV in a class period. Would love clarification so that I better understand.
      4. True about the ‘mirroring anywhere on the network’ issue. We counter that by changing the password of the Apple TV frequently. Seems to work well and is easy to do! Would welcome any other suggestions though.

      Really great comment, and I appreciate you weighing in – definitely learned some new stuff!

      Thanks,

      Jeff

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  • Chris

    Jeff – have you ever asked Apple directly what they recommend using in schools? We did and Apple said that they would NOT recommend putting Apple TV’s in every classroom at schools. Here’s why:

    1) Apple is NOT designed for education. It is designed for consumer use.
    A) Apple devices are designed to be used on single subnet networks. Most schools are multi-subnet networks. This is by design since Apple only intended the Apple TV and such devices to be used in the hom.
    B) Having several Apple TV’s in a building “broadcasting” their name may cause the devices to not work correctly. Again the design is to have one Apple TV in a home environment – not 30 in a area environment such as a school.
    C) You will have to secure the Apple TV because any student can be in a hallway and potentially take over the Apple TV. You have to train the teachers on how to do this.

    I am in IT for schools and have repeatedly talked to Apple directly about all aspects of Apple in education. Don’t even get me started with Apple ID’s in education – which you need to have with an Apple TV/Macbook/iPad if using apps through it.

    Bottom line – Apple is a great product but in education it’s like fitting a square peg in a round hole. When in doubt remember Apple is designed for consumer use and I seriously doubt they will change their entire model for education.

    • Matt Densley

      I have deployed Apple T.V’s in 9 schools over the past 2 years with zero problems.

      1- subnets are not a issue if you are segregating your network. Vlans are your best friend.

      2 – security . By using vlans you can now split your network into separate networks like Student, Teacher, Guest. Now you can connect teacher computers / Ipads and apple tv’s to the same network and the students will not be able to access.

      3- Teaching with apple tv. Programs like Doceri and Reflector and Nearpod will enhance your ability to teach using the IPad in the classroom.

      • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

        Matt, great call with discussing VLans – lots of potential here and it is a very effective way to manage different ‘classes’ of users and devices on a network.

        Thanks for sharing your experiences.

  • Wminten

    Question. Could a wireless network cause a connectivity problem with ipad 2 projecting with vga (to digital projector)? Kids were presenting a movie with the video app on ipad 2 connected via vga to projector. Worked perfect when practicing, then once inside classroom, “no signal” appeared. Kids got it going only for signal to fail again. VGA seemed to be connected securely.

    • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

      Doubtful that a wireless network would be to blame for this. What kind of video is it? Is it one that the students made? Seems bizarre that it will come and go – can you successfully mirror your screen on the iPad to the Projector without trouble?

      • wminten

        Students made a documentary in imovie, then synced it to ipad 2 with itunes. Yes, they have played the movie the same way countless times. This was the first time they had a signal and then proceeded to lose it.

        • wminten

          If I understand correctly, ipad 2 automatically tries to connect with available wifi. If you are in a new wifi location and trying to play a movie on ipad 2 with the video app via vga to projector, could the ipad’s attempts to connect with the unrecognized wifi interfere with the output of the movie? Thus, resulting in “no signal”. I apologize if my terminology is incorrect. I’m quite new at this.

          • http://instructionaltechtalk.com/ Jeff Herb

            The WiFi should not interrupt the signal enough to make it not display on the screen. You can easily test this though by disabling WiFi in the Settings -> WiFi -> OFF section. I am assuming you can Mirror your screen to the projector with no problems? Is this issue isolated only to the movie you’re playing? We’ll get it figured out!

          • wminten

            Thanks for your help. I’m not sure the situation can be replicated. The team was attending a tournament to present their movie at a neighboring district (hour away). It wasn’t necessarily just the movie, once inside the classroom, the projector didn’t accept the signal from the ipad. The kids checked all their connections and it still didn’t find the signal. Well, it found the signal, then dropped it. Maybe a bad cable. But, they got it to work again outside the room. So, i guess I’m grasping for something within the room that could have tripped up the ipad. Also, their practice room at our school does not have a wifi signal because it’s in an extra classroom in an isolated area.

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