Screenian is a simple little tool that can turn your laptop or Chromebook web camera into a document camera. This looks like a decent option for presenting or recording lessons for your students.
Since it uses your webcam it does not require sharing your screen in Google Meets. Which makes for a good simplification of that process. You just set a clipboard or white board down over your keyboard and start sharing.
This is a far more affordable option than purchasing an expensive document camera for remote teaching. If you gave one to your students they could share their work over a Google Meet or record a video of it to submit.
Screenian lists for $25 on their website. Even better I found an iPevo version on Amazon that comes in a pack of six for $40! You can share some with your friends or students.
Screenian reminds me of the Osmo device my daughter uses on her ipad. If you have one of those laying around it should do the same thing. It is also like you are harnessing some fancy yet simple periscope power so you can feel like a submarine commander when you are deploying it. I can definitely see myself having a Navy hat on the side that I would put on before announcing I was about to raise the periscope to present. I would probably have my students make sonar sound effects when I was “raising the periscope” to make things more fun for them.
