It's a Phone, It's a Mouse, It's Mobile Mouse Pro!

Imagine this scene for a moment.  You have a classroom equipped with a SMARTBoard and a tablet laptop.  You are trying to use as much technology as possible and as seamlessly as possible.  If you are like me, however, you move around while you speak to the kids and you are constantly circulating the room. 
If you want to control the whiteboard, you must either be standing next to it or the computer.  If you do all of your controlling with the SMARTBoard, you will spend half of the time with your back to the kids.  If you use the computer, you are stuck behind your desk (or wherever the AV hook-up is.)

Admittedly, this is a pretty minor problem and I am certainly happy to have all of this technology at all, but what if the solution was really simple and really affordable?

As I have mentioned before, my husband and I were lucky enough to acquire a free iPad recently and I have been experimenting with it quite a bit.  While reading an article about the best iPad and iPhone apps for education, my jaw dropped when I read about Mobile Mouse Pro.

The downloadable app for iPad, iPhone and Android devices allows you to control virtually any media device like a remote control.  Instead of running sprints back and forth between the SMARTBoard and the laptop, I immediately imagined walking around the room as I like to do, but with an iPad in hand that is quickly and easily operating the board. 

After watching the video above, I am definitely experimenting with this one over the summer!  If I can walk around the room and maintain contact and engagement with the students, it's definitely worth a $2.99 investment...