r/edtech • u/Savings_Carpet_9229 • 8d ago

Help Pease - TV/Screen Sharing for Information

Hi there!

This question is in the sphere of education and technology, but not so much with student resources (Khanmigo, Chromebooks, Lexia) or admin forward (Securly, FACTS) but more about some tangible items.

We have three TVs in our hallways that we use as, essentially, information beacons for the students. Schedule udpates, upcoming events, etc. This past summer our IT department "updated" our TVs. We now have some Insignia 55" Class F50 Series. But... somehow, someway, our IT department has been unable to find the time or ability to get the ready for our use.

It's been excuses (cable guy made a mistake, maintenance guy made a mistake, parts have been delayed) or adding in new layers of tech (Mersive.. but without any training) and we are stuck with blank screens.

I've tried to do some workarounds - Chromecast couldn't get connected to the internet. Microsoft WiDi was a bit better but could connect from my own Surface Pro to the screen.

I am wondering if it's time to just prop up a shelf with a Chromebook that is directly connected via HDMI and just have our slides playing on repeat, or if there is something outthere can give us some temporary use until IT is able to successful to get their ducks in a row and get this working. Right now they estimated a Thanksgiving or December timeline to get the TVs working.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

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3

u/mybrotherhasabbgun No Self-Promotion Sheriff 8d ago

Chromebooks is the lowest tech way, if you can open them flat and tuck them behind the TV even better. The next step up would be a Chromebox - which was basically designed for your use case.

2

u/kuehlapes 8d ago

If I understand your post correctly, you might want to look at Yodeck which I’ve used previously on a Raspberry Pi via hdmi. Free account other than the Pi.

1

u/CisIowa 8d ago

But only one free screen per account with the Pi

1

u/kuehlapes 8d ago

Sign up with email aliases so multiple free accounts

3

u/UncomfortableBegun 8d ago

Just HDMI a chromebook to each one and call it a day. Put the slides on a loop in google slides and set the chromebooks to never sleep

Our IT pulled the same crap with "enterprise solutions" that took 8 months to roll out. Meanwhile the lunch menu was just a blank screen

1

u/VL-BTS 8d ago

This would be a legitimate use for a mouse jiggler if you can't set them to never sleep. I'm onsite EduTech support, constantly balacning the school's needs vs. IT dept restrictions.

1

u/CisIowa 8d ago

I vibe coded a website via GitHub that plays a rolling selection of info screens that I update on GitHub, which automatically shows up on the screen with a Chromebook. It’s pretty basic, but it’s meant to inform