Apps we love: Reflector App

Reflector App is a must-have app for classroom, office, home and pretty much everywhere else. Here’s an interview with Keirsten Heckel of Reflector App!

Can you explain Reflector in a few sentences?

Reflector allows students and teachers to wirelessly share iOS, Android or Chromebook devices to a teacher’s Mac or Windows computer. It’s a cost-effective way for educators to wirelessly display mobile devices to larger screens in the classroom. Teachers often hook their computer up to a projector so the whole class can see the mirrored content. We’re proud to say that Reflector is used in more than 100,000 classrooms worldwide.

What initially inspired Reflector App?

Reflector was initially meant to be used as an internal tool to easily display content from mobile devices. Our team soon realized that if developers needed this app, there must be other people out there who need it, too. We found that there was a huge need for it in the education industry due to the rise of mobile devices in classrooms.

What are the benefits of Reflector over other solutions?

One reason that Reflector stands out over similar solutions is that teachers can mirror multiple devices at once. One or more students can simultaneously display Chromebook, iOS or Android devices to the teacher’s computer to show and present their work on a larger scale. Many solutions only allow one connection or operating system at a time. In any learning environment, a huge Reflector benefit is the option to record devices. This allows teachers to record lesson plans and tutorials from their own device, or record an individual or group of students’ work. Additionally, Reflector is a fraction of the cost of similar solutions, such as an Apple TV. At only $15 per teacher computer, this solution is budget friendly.

How is Reflector helping create a more collaborative classroom?

Reflector helps create a collaborative classroom because it allows students to be mobile with their devices. They can work together in teams, and when it’s time to present, they can all share their device screens at once from anywhere in the room. Teachers can compare student work side-by-side, allow students to compete against one another during an activity and even have students collaborate with one another on a difficult problem.

What’s the most interesting use of Reflector you’ve seen?

We’ve seen a lot of interesting use cases of Reflector over the years. However, the one that created the most impact and discussion was from a teacher that used Reflector with the mobile app JitterBug, created by the cat food company, Friskies. This app was originally intended for cats to tap interactive bugs on their owner’s iOS or Android device. One PhysEd teacher found a way to use it with Reflector for educational purposes.

The PhysEd teacher wirelessly mirrored his iPad running JitterBug to our Reflector software on his computer. His computer was hooked up to a projector so the students could see the game on the gym wall. The students threw balls at the wall to hit the virtual bugs, while the teacher tapped the corresponding bug on his screen to make it “disappear.” One of the teachers observing this activity recorded it and shared the video on social media. The video ended up reaching over 30 million views and was the number one post on the front page of Reddit.

Aside from schools, who else is using Reflector?

Reflector is perfect for anyone who needs to share mobile device content with a large group of people. Educators, of course, use it to display student device screens, businesses can use it to display reports or presentations during a meeting and the general consumer can use it to share family photos at a social gathering.

What are some goals you have as a company for the future?

We want to continue making student devices a powerful asset in classrooms around the world with our technology. We also want to become the go-to resource for device management and monitoring in the classroom, which is what our latest product, ClassHub, is designed to do.