Posted March 20, 2019 by Academic and Institutional Technology
Tags: Department News
Present Wirelessly in Your Classroom!
Effective Date: March 20, 2019
We’re making a concerted effort to be sure that all presentations spaces and classrooms across campus have the ability to connect devices wirelessly. The best product we’ve found is VIA Connect, which has all the features we wanted for the best price. One of the major selling points is that it works for Windows and Mac laptops, as well as iPhones, Androids, iPads, and Chromebooks.
You can learn more about how it works in this article. Essentially, you’ll need to install an app the first time you use it. For laptops, you’ll download this from VIA. For Androids and iOS you go the appropriate app store to download. Once the app is installed, you’ll be able to enter the room name that is listed on the screen and put in the appropriate code when prompted. A red bar will appear from which you can choose the appropriate option, such as “presenting.”
One feature that is particularly noteworthy is how well VIA streams videos. On other services there can often be glitches when streaming, but for VIA Connect the player puts YouTube videos through directly (to play straight from YouTube.) For a media file on your computer you can drag it into the playlist and play directly from there which gives the highest quality possible.
Wendy Woodward recently installed it in a conference room and said, “This works so well! I wish we’d found Via sooner!”
The major benefits are the following:
- Cost savings
- Better streaming
- Platform agnostic
You can check to see if a classroom you’re teaching in has VIA Connect one of two ways—either look at the teaching stand (where the computer is located) or check on answers.wheaton.edu by typing in the name of your classroom (e.g. “BGC 012.”) Since the building of the Armerding Center for Music and the Arts we have been installing VIA Connect in each new classroom. We will continue methodically installing them in classrooms as part of the refresh cycle over the next few years.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Academic and Institutional Technology at 630.752.4357 (HELP) or by email at ait.service.desk@wheaton.edu.