Today's teachers often find themselves showing a computer's screen to a group of students. Whether it's a webpage or software application, chances are that much of what appears on the screen is too small to see clearly (even when projecting the screen onto a large wall).
Windows and Macintosh users have ways of zooming into portions of the screen. Magnifying parts of the screen is helpful to highlight what students should focus on.
Words on screen can be practically unreadable from a distance.You can see from the screenshots below that it's much easier to show an audience a link to click when zoomed.
Zooming (right) helps your audience actually see what you are trying to show them!
I also use screen zooming to make online video fill the entire screen, showcase images, and point to onscreen buttons. Zooming certainly has its uses and here is how to do it on Windows and Mac:
WindowsDownload the free ZoomIt application. The first time you run ZoomIt the Options box appears. You can specify a key combination to magnify the area of the screen where your mouse is located. The default key combination is Alt-1. To exit zoom mode, press Alt-1 again. ZoomIt even has a draw mode where you can annotate the screen for your audience.
MacintoshMac users have no software to download since zooming is built into the operating system. But, the function does need to be turned on. Go to System Preferences and click Universal Access. Under Zoom click On. Notice you hold down the Command and Option buttons while pressing the = button to zoom in. To zoom out hold down Command and Option and press -. I suggest clicking Options and checking the box next to Smooth images. I also suggest clicking the button next to the option Only when the pointed reaches an edge.
