Screen Sharing in the Classroom:
Tools That Enable Desktop Viewing
of Distance Materials
Yue-Ting (Ting) Siu, TVI
20
It seems every time we turn around, there's another term, gadget, program, or device that can
help students with visual impairments. While it is
difficult keeping up with the latest and greatest,
the good news is that someone else has usually
figured out what works. There are some exciting
tools available for our students with low vision,
and this article focuses on enabling independent
and immediate access to materials presented "on
the board."
Screen Share, What?!
Screen sharing is a term that refers to mutual viewing of the same material, but on different
devices. In the classroom, a teacher might present PowerPoint slides for a lesson or be working
on a SmartBoard. While this approach engages
the entire class, the visual nature of the information often excludes the student with low vision.
Traditionally, we bridge access to these materials
by seating our students in the front of the room,
training them on using a monocular, or struggle to
find a portable CCTV. These accommodations
certainly work, although it can be difficult getting
the student to "buy in" to using these tools that
make them stand out from their peers. With
screen sharing, a student simply opens their own
device such as a laptop or iPad, sees the material
presented on the board on the desktop of their
device in real time, and uses the features of their
device to adjust the contrast and magnification of
the material. The approach is particularly attractive because the student maintains his or her in-
