As the big day draws closer, getting your technology ready to watch online graduation will be important. We will be live-streaming our ceremonies from the Champlain Valley Exposition Center.
Whether you’re a Champlain College Online graduate tuning in from home, a parent or grandparent who can’t be there in-person, or a Champlain community member celebrating from the safety of your living room, here are some tech tips for online graduation viewing!
We’ll have two opportunities for you to engage with the Champlain community during commencement: first, the ceremony itself, and second, a live social media tag wall where you’ll be able to share photos and messages to celebrate this huge accomplishment. Learn how to share your photos and well-wishes here.
Do you have multiple screens available in your household? If so, we encourage you to use them to create the best at-home viewing experience. For example, using multiple monitors, a laptop and TV, or a computer and your phone, will allow you to watch both the livestream event and the social media tagboard at the same time. To help you prepare, we’ve put together some quick guides on how to set your online graduation celebration up for success.
Please note that you may need additional equipment to display on multiple screens. For example: extra monitors, video cables (like an HDMI cord), cord adapters depending on the model of your computer, and more. If you do need an HDMI cable and have a gaming console at home, there’s a good chance it uses an HDMI cord. Just unhook it from your gaming system and connect it to your computer’s HDMI port.
Using a Computer & Another Monitor or a TV to Watch Online Graduation
You can set up two displays fairly easily using equipment you may already have at home!
Mac
- Connect your video cable (such as an HDMI cord) to your computer and your extra display.
- Your second display should automatically connect to your computer and either mirror what is on your computer screen, or display an empty, extended desktop which you can drag a window from your computer onto.
- For viewing the online graduation livestream, it’s best to display as an extended desktop. If this is not the default when you connect your computer to another display, head to the Apple Menu > System Preferences, click Displays, then click Arrangement, and uncheck the ‘Mirror Displays’ checkbox. From here you can also change the arrangement of your computer and extended desktop.
- If your Mac does not detect a connected display, please try troubleshooting via the instructions found here.
- Now, you can head to commencement.champlain.edu and watch the ceremony full screen on one display, and the social wall on another screen!
Windows
- Connect your video cable (such as an HDMI cord) to your computer and your extra display.
- Your second display should automatically connect to your computer and either mirror what is on your computer screen, or display an empty, extended desktop which you can drag a window from your computer onto.
- For viewing the commencement livestream, it’s best to display as an extended desktop. If this is not the default when you connect your computer to another display, head to the Windows Button > Settings > System > Display, and change ‘Multiple displays’ to ‘Extend these displays.’ From here you can also change the arrangement of your computer and extended desktop.
- If your computer does not detect a connected display, please try troubleshooting via the instructions found here.
- Now, you can head to commencement.champlain.edu and watch the ceremony full screen on one display, and the social wall on another screen!
If you need additional information, you can find multiple display information for Windows computers here and Apple computers here.
Using a Computer & a Smartphone or Tablet
This is the simplest option for viewing both commencement and the social wall, and you can get this up and running in no time.
- Using your computer, head to commencement.champlain.edu in your browser. From there you’ll be able to watch commencement live.
- On your phone or tablet, head to commencement.champlain.edu to view the social tag wall.
- Sit back and enjoy!
Using a Smartphone & a Smart TV or Streaming Platform/Service
If you have a Smart TV or a wireless streaming platform/service, and a compatible device (computer, smartphone, or tablet), you should be able to share a webpage to your TV. This option may limit the use of the connected device as you often need to keep the webpage open for it to stream to your TV but, if you have another phone or computer available, you can use that as a second screen!
For more info on using these services, please check out the website of your respective platform/device. Here are a few of the most popular options:
- Apple TV/AirPlay Compatible Smart TV (iOS devices only)
- Google Chromecast
- Roku (Android and Windows devices only)
- Amazon Fire TV (Android devices only)
Although these steps should help get you started, they don’t encompass all of the options available to you. There are plenty of ways to get creative with your technology and devices available at your home.
Don’t Forget to Share the Moment of Online Graduation with your Friends and Family
While we’ve covered using multiple devices for maximizing your online graduation viewing experience, don’t forget to include what makes Commencement so special: Sharing it with your family and friends. We’re lucky to have options that allow us to see those we care about most—even if it’s at a distance.
Pull up Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Snapchat, or whichever platform works best for you, and have a viewing party while the ceremony is going on.
P.S. Don’t forget to wear your cap and gown and download these celebratory photo props!