Teacher shares hack on how to share written notes on video calls with a DIY overhead projector

Students across Singapore have already returned to school and resumed classes normally after a brief period of home-based learning during circuit breaker. 

The rest of the world, however, might not have it as easy just yet as they continue battling worrisome levels of coronavirus infections — lessons are still being conducted via video calls in some countries. 

Teaching through a webcam presents some challenges, as educators have found out over the course of the pandemic. One of which is the awkward move of holding up what they’ve wrote on paper to the camera, which is a bother for those without document cameras at home. 

With some smarts, scotch tape and things that can be found lying around the house, a Facebook user managed to put together a contraption that essentially lets anyone have DIY overhead camera. 

Going by HugotMaestra, the Filipino teacher used a pencil, a CD, some tape and a coin to form a reflector of sorts for a laptop’s inbuilt webcam to capture images below. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1722942811208111&id=599854056850331[/embed]

The system looks ramshackle for sure, but it works. Not to mention highly modular — presenters can simply take the CD off the pencil if they want people on the call to have a normal frontal view again. Perhaps the only issue we have is that CDs aren’t that easy to find anymore at home. 

The life hack has certainly made a lot of folks (regardless of profession) happy, which is unsurprising considering that regular video calls are part of the new normal. So far, the post has been shared over 157,000 times, with thousands of comments praising the DIY contraption and even some suggestions on how to improve it, including using a compact mirror instead of a CD. 

ilyas@asiaone.com