Yes to a Portable Monitor

Teachers sure have had to adapt quickly during this pandemic. Just the logistics alone. Never thought it would ever be a thing in my lifetime where a teacher would be required to teach students remotely or through a hybrid setting. I give them lots of praise for all that they have been able to accomplish. It isn’t easy. 

Teaching 25-30 students on an 11 inch screen is just not enough real-estate when you have to talk to students, share a screen, do attendance, check email etc. I could go on and on and on. We also knew that there probably would be times where teachers had to teach from home. We wanted the flexibility of teachers being able to have a second monitor where ever they were (our teachers also don’t have their own classrooms). 

We wanted to get teachers a monitor. However, we wanted to think different. We wanted to think 3-5 years from now and didn’t want to just buy the first monitor that we found. We wanted to think different. After doing some research, we decided we should purchase portable monitors that could be easily set up in any setting, instead of getting a desktop monitor that would only live in the classroom. The model that we purchased was: AOC e1659FWU 16″ LED USB Powered Portable Monitor with
case.

Why we liked it:

• Device is light
• Device can be placed anywhere
• Device is powered by the computer and does not have a separate power cord needing an outlet. This is great for flexibility.
• Regardless of how we end of teaching in the next school year, I see these monitors being helpful for teachers. For example: Student work on on portable monitor while gradebook on teacher laptop.
• Came with a carry case to put the monitor in when transporting it

NOTE: My co-worker Kerri Lunn loaded a driver for the monitor to work with the MAC laptops. For those that use a chromebook, a driver was not needed. I worked right away.

It is amazing that teachers have just managed to get all of their work done on one screen prior to this pandemic. I am reminded that while we have been through a lot, it is nice to find the small silver linings. Having a second monitor will now help educators be more efficient with their time. Sometimes it is the small things that make ones day and this is one of them.

And that is my Spiel…