Document Camera for the Classroom
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.
Not too long ago, I bought a portable document camera to try out. I have to say…it’s so great!
I didn’t have anything like this when I was teaching, but I know that it’s very common for classrooms to have something similar. A lot of document cameras work with your laptop and projector so you can share pictures, books, science demonstrations, or whatever else with your students!
Here’s how it works:
- Connect the document camera to your computer or projector. The HUE HD Pro Document camera made that a breeze! I simply plugged it into the USB port on my computer and it was ready to go. I didn’t even have to download any software to my computer.
- Since I use a Mac, I opened up QuickTime to use the camera. Windows Camera would also work.
- Then I just placed an item underneath the camera and a larger version appeared on my laptop. If I was in the classroom, I would hook this up to the projector so a bigger picture would be shown to students.
The point of this camera is to show close-ups to students. I’m sure you all know that feeling when you’re trying to show the whole class something, but not everyone can see. This solves that problem!
Ideas for the Classroom
- Show science demonstrations
- To show students words or pictures in a book
- Explain math problems with manipulatives
- Show & Tell items
- Demonstrate how to write alphabet letters or numbers
- Model how to do an activity
- Show concepts of print from a book
- Display students’ work
You can also use this for virtual learning!
I love that this document camera allows you to take snapshots or even videos of what you’re demonstrating under the camera. The neck is adjustable so you can position it however you’d like.
Here are some other features of this camera:
- built-in microphone
- auto-focus
- manual zoom
- can be used for video chat
This is really a cool addition to any classroom!
How would you use a document camera in the classroom?
This is a neat little gadget. My 1 child attends a special school and they rely on donors and fundraisers for most of their funding. Sometimes when they are working remotely his teacher has mentioned how beneficial a camera would be. If I won this giveaway I’d gift this to his school because I know it would be greatly appreciated and useful. Thanks!
Wow that is super cool! I’ve never seen one that was so flexible! Most of the ones I’ve seen are so rigid and just swivel. This would make virtual learning days so much easier!
That’s a cool camera!
What a great gift for the teacher in your life!
This would really help with virtual learning and enhance it. I think it could get my students engaged.
This would be awesome for showing science experiments since we have to keep Covid safe distance right now.
This is so neat, I never knew these existed
This camera is amazing and so helpful in my classroom and make my job easier.
I have one like this at school and I LOVE it!! But we recently switched to a virtual learning schedule when school closes on bad weather days so to be able to use this camera with my computer at home would be huge! The one I have at school can not be moved, so I also love that this one can move anywhere and is so small and compact!!
I would love to win this for my classroom!