Providing Technical Support with Glance

During the course of a week, I am spending more and more of my time working with teachers, providing them with professional development on various assistive technologies that can be implemented in the classroom. For many of the teachers that I work with this is their first encounter with many of the assistive technologies that are being introduced. Not being on site, I often leave access to software guides and reference materials on my Google Site for the teachers to access- should they need help. There are those times when these materials are not enough to pinpoint a particular issue and technical support is needed.

 Just last week I received an email from a middle school teacher who was puzzled why the software was not  working as she had anticipated. Rather than emails going back and forth, I set up a time for her to speak with me as well as a link where I could see and remotely control her screen. As part of my services to schools, I offer "Just in Time Training and Support." Using Glance an easy to use screen sharing tool, I was able to email the teacher a link so that when we spoke I could see her screen and take control of her computer. Once we connected on the cell phone and I started the screen sharing session I was able to see the teachers screen and she was able to walk me through the steps so that I could see the process. While doing the screen sharing - the teacher realized that she had left out a step which could explain why the program did not work as expected. We quickly went through a new scenario and added the missed step and all of the issues were quickly resolved. What would have taken weeks to solve was handled in 5 minutes using Glance. If you have not had a chance to use Glance click here to find out more information.

Glance has become an indispensable tool which I use for doing webinars and for providing on the spot technical support. If you are looking for "Just in Time Technical Support" for your assistive technology program let me know and I would be glad to send you a proposal. In the end the teacher was up in running in minutes and now is confidently going back into the classroom and using the software with her students. Without this support the teacher would have put the software aside until I had our next scheduled training session. To make sure you are getting the most out of your software investment consider contacting me for "Just in Time Technical Support."

Glance to the Rescue

While I have been using Glance for awhile now and tend to use it to do webinars, many of you may not know you can also use it to view and take control of your colleagues computer. Just this morning I was able to send my colleague a link and within seconds I was viewing their computer and able to help diagnose the problem he was having. The experience went very smoothly and it was as if I was sitting next to my colleague clicking their mouse and using their computer. While I was not able to initially solve my colleagues problem seeing what was happening allowed me to think about the issue and hopefully tomorrow morning I will get another chance to do a another session and resolve my colleagues issue. I will let you know what happens. But all in all Glance is a handy tool to have access to not only for webinars but for jumping in and doing technical support.

Postscript: This morning I took control of my colleagues computer and successfully resolved the issue, it took about 30 seconds- with tools like this, it makes me look good.

Doing a Quick PaperShow Webinar

With the right tools it is easy to quickly do an impromptu webinar with good results. Today I had a chance to do a screensharing session with my friend and colleague Karen Janowski showing her the capabilities of PaperShow. For those of us in the field of assistive technology we are always looking for new tools that can be used to support students in the classroom. For those students who have in their Individualized Education Program that they are to be provided by their teachers with classroom notes, PaperShow can be a god send. In today's classrooms, teachers generally have access to a computer and data projector and with the addition of PaperShow they can simply write their notes on the PaperShow Flipchart paper for all of the students to see. Just plug in the PaperShow USB key and you are ready to get started- you see no software installation is needed, everything runs off the USB key. When they are done with the class they can save the notes as a PDF file and email it to the students or post it to the schools web site for easy retrieval. Now back to the impromptu screen sharing session.

Karen and I have been using Skype for some time and we regularly talk with each other about assistive technology and whats new. Today we started chatting and then called each other to talk about PaperShow. Using Glance for the screen sharing I started a session and I sent Karen a link in Skype that she could click on. Within seconds we were up and running. Glance still remains one of the easiest screen sharing tools out there. With a simple click you are up an running in no time. One last detail- I wanted to to be able to show Karen some of the controls on the PaperShow Flipchart paper and so I connected the iPevo Point 2 View camera so that I could show her how I was using the PaperShow pen and paper. With all my technology humming, I was able to show Karen both my computer screen and what I was writing as if she was looking over my shoulder. Karen was intrigued with the possibilities as I am with how we can support students in the mainstream that may need to have notes supplied by the teacher. Using PaperShow in the classroom is definitely the way to go as an accommodation for students who need to have notes provided to them.

Glance to the Rescue

While I have used Glance in the past to do webinars and to do screen sharing, I have never had the opportunity until yesterday to use it to remotely control someone's computer. One of my students called me on my cell phone and shared with me that she was having trouble doing APA formatting in Microsoft Word. I suggested that we do a session using Glance and that I would take control of her computer. I quickly shot off an email with the log-on link to her colelege email address and within seconds we were up and running. I was able to take control of her PC and show her how to use the Reference Tools within Microsoft Office 2007 to create her citations and bibliogrpahy. My student, to say the least was fascinated by the support and my ability to remotely take control of her computer. The whole support call lasted about 10 minutes but after we were through we resolved all of her technical issues and she was then able to focus on her Action Research project. Having tools like Glance at your disposal was a god send.

Putting eLearning on the Map

I just got finished reading in Education Week, Swine-Flu Plans Put E-Learning in the Spotlight and was thinking that with the potential for the H1NI virus to close schools across the United States this Fall, it is time for administrators, technology directors and teachers to consider some stop gap measures so there is continuity in instruction. Over the past couple of years business has relied more and more on the internet for the presentation of information. Using services like Glance, Adobe Connect Pro, Adobe ConeectNow, Webex, Elluminate, GotoMeeting, and Dimdim businesses have saved millions of dollars and have been able to effectively provide high quality professional development. I know from my own participation in many webinars how much I have learned over the past two years. It is time that schools begin to invest in these services so that the school day can be extended beyond 3.00 pm. When looking at the potential for many school closing because of the H1NI virus it would prudent for schools to invest and learn how to deliver instruction using these powerful technologies. Yes- I know not everyone has access to the internet in their home's but there are opportunities for community centers and libraries to be able to host the sessions, if needed. Using these aforementioned technologies with built-in Voice Over Internet Protocol, teachers can reach out to their students and continue to provide instruction.

Teachers may also want to look into using Skype to keep in touch with their students using the video-conferencing feature or audio features. With an inexpensive webcam it is possible to deliver instruction to small groups of students at no cost! Students would be able to see their teacher and ask questions as if they were in their classroom. I can remember growing up in New York City during one of the longest teacher strikes and having my teachers meet in the basement of one of our home's to teach us. Now with the advent of Skype and similar technologies teachers could deliver instruction without leaving their home.

In the interim what can schools do to provide continuity of instruction if school closings become an inevitability? For one, there are a number of free or inexpensive resources that could help schools provide teacher materials to their students. Teachers can begin to look at creating a wiki (PBWiki) that would allow them a central point to communicate and store files or start a blog (Blooger) with linked resources to stay in touch with their students. Teachers can also create materials using Google Docs and post links from the school website so that students can access them. It would also be a good idea for teachers to begin to collect student or parent's emails so that in the event that there needs to be communication-teachers could send out an email with information.

Some schools have already implemented Blackboard or Moodle which can provide a great learning environment for students with access to materials, discussion boards, links and resources. For teachers who do not have access to the aforementioned services you may want to take a look at creating a Google Site which is free. Google Sites are free and relatively easy to set up. Google Sites provide the ability to set permissions and control access while providing tools to create engaging learning environments.

One of the technologies that I have been using for some time in the courses that I teach is screencasting. This technology allows you as the teacher to capture anything that is on your computer screen including the audio. Imagine for a moment being able to solving a math problem and show your students how to do it step by step as if they were in your classroom. Well in fact using screencasting technology it is possible and relatively easy to do. For the past several years I have used Camtasia Studio and Adobe Captivate to create my screencasts which I have used on my blog and in the classes that I teach. For those of you that are looking for a free solution you can take a look at Jing and Screenr. To get started using these program open the application that you want to use- connect your microphone and hit the Record button. That's all there is to it. Once you are done you can post your movies to the web and have your students access them. Each 3-5 minutes video can highlight a new concept or idea and instruct your student on the days lesson. if you have an interactive whiteboard in your classroom-many of the notebook software applications have the recording feature built-in to capture a screencast.

Over the past year I have been writing about various digital pen technologies that can open the door to screencasting which have tremendous teaching potential. The Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is an ideal tool for creating pencasts. Just turn in on and start writing and talking, when you are done upload your pencast to the web- get the URL and your students can watch and listen to you over the web. If you are using PowerPoint in your classroom you should take a look at Papershow which allows you to annotate your PowerPoint presentations and using a tool like Jing it is easy to record your session for playback. Papershow is an ideal tool when used in a distance learning and when doing webinars. When using Papershow in conjunction with screensharing methodologies it offers teachers the ability to have an interactive whiteboard to share their ideas and lessons over the internet. Imagine having the ability to write on a piece of paper and your students will see everything that you are writing. At the end of the session you can then save your notes as a PDF or email them to your students.

While no one can predict if there will be an outbreak of the N1H1 virus there are steps that schools can begin to make to insure the continuity of instruction using today's e-learning tools. First and foremost- schools need to have a reliable and effective way to communicate with their students and or families via email or the web. Schools should begin to think about how they intend to communicate to the families and work with teachers to help set up their web pages or sites to disseminate information. As I shared with you there are lots of ways that teachers could provide continuity of instruction should their schools have to remain closed for a period of time. While there are lot of new and exciting technologies to deliver instruction over the internet - schools should begin to explore how these can be incorporated with their plans in the event that schools will be closed. In any case, schools need to explore how these elearning technologies and Web 2.0 can enrich the instruction in the classroom and begin utilize these tools for developing opportunities for student learning beyond the school day. It is time that all schools look into delivering learning using these new and exciting eLearning tools.

Mind Mapping Webinar

This morning I had the opportunity to do a webinar on mind mapping, to the faculty at a college in Nairobi, Kenya. The session lasted an hour and a half and it was exciting to be able to introduce the faculty to the merits and features of several of the leading mind mapping applications. The faculty is in the process of developing a multi-disciplinary curriculum and wants a vehicle to be able to express their ideas and a way to communicate them. Having access to a mind mapping application would allow them to brainstorm and see the big picture with a high degree of clarity.

For those of you that are just jumping into using the web to do webinars and training, today I used several tools to enable me to do this work. I used Glance to share my screen- which continues to be a solid performer and very easy for my clients to use. I also used Skype for the audio which I would have to say was incredible today- the sound quality was crisp and clear on both ends. Likewise, I used Papershow with my PowerPoint presentation which allowed me to annotate right on my slides. I was also able to use Papershow as well as a digital whiteboard to jot down some ideas and information that my participants could see as I was speaking. Wow - what a collection of tools you are probably saying about now. Yes- but trying to keep the presentation interactive and novel, is important when doing webinars over and having these tools makes it that much easier to do. When you are planning your webinar here are some tips:

• Rehearse, Rehearse and Rehearse again
• Disconnect your computer from the WiFi network and hardwire your computer into the network
• Do a run through if you can
• Have a backup plan in case Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) does not work
• Use a headset if you are planning to use VOIP (ie. Skype)
  
• Use tools that have "just enough features" so that you can focus on the content and not the technology
• Confirm your meetings a couple days before to make sure everyone is on the same page

With a little planning you will find that hosting a webinar is a lot of fun and very rewarding, especially when you can span the globe without leaving your office. Yes- the "world is flat" and continues to get smaller through the power of the web! If you have any questions about the tools I used, please feel free to leave a comment. Likewise, if you are trying to figure out whats the best mind mapping tool for your situation please feel free to email me.

Providing Support with Glance

It has been exciting being able to use Glance to provide my students with support when they are not able to make it to class. Just last week I had two students who could not make it to class and they had a project due on a software application called ClozePro, from Crick Software. Since this is a hybrid course, I decided to use Glance to provide them with a webinar that I could demonstrate to them how to use the software, without anyone having to leave their home. We all agreed on a time and we decided to use Skype to deliver the audio portion of the webinar. Once we were connected I sent both my students the Glance link via the Skype chat and we were off an running.

One of the really great features of Glance is its simplicity. I know that there are more screen sharing applications out there that have a host of features, but one thing that is critical for new users of this technology is their ability to simply click and see your screen. For this reason Glance is on the top of my list for ease of use. For the presenter there is very little behind the scene work that you have to do. Just initiate the session and let you guests connect. As the presenter you can really focus on the content- after all, isn't that the reason you initiated the session? Glance is just simple to use! . Give it a try and let me know about your experience.

Quick Screensharing Session with Glance

This morning I had the opportunity to touch base with Chance Brown from the Mindmap Blog to show him some of the advanced features in Context Organizer. This was a rather impromptu screensharing meeting and so last night I sent him a link for him to click on so that this morning we could be off and running. For the past several months I have been using Glance to do screensharing and for some of the webinars that I do. With this as a backdrop, I called Chance at the designated time and with one click he was viewing my screen. As I went through demonstrating some of the advanced features in Context Organizer, Chance remarked just how easy it was to connect and concentrate on what I was presenting. Chance to say the least, was really impressed with the feature set in Context Organizer as I demonstrated how it could be used to summarize a web site as well as doing searches within Google on various topics that were also summarized. Similalry, he was really taken by the Glance session and commented just how easy it was to use for what we were doing. As we move into 2009 one of the themes that we will be seeing over and over again is simplicity. In this respect Glance adheres to this philospophy and has always stressed simplicity over complexity. It was great to be able to connect with one another over the phone and via the Glance session, since we had only knew of each other's work through each other's blog. The power to connect in many different ways using the web is a phenomenon that I find to be quite amazing and to this day I enjoy all of the new friendships that I have made on the journey.

The Joy of Teaching

There is no better feeling when you are teaching to see your students in perfect sync with you as the lesson or demonstration unfolds. In many ways it almost feels like a symphony of sorts- there I am teaching and I can watch the expression and the heads moving in unison as they grasp the ideas that I am espousing. Pretty powerful stuff to say the least. Today was one of those days where everything just flowed. I have been introducing my students to the power of videoconferencing and challenging them to think of some ways to use it in the classroom. In this vein, I introduced them to two of my favorite videoconferencing applications Skype and Oovoo.

For the first part of the class, I connected with my friend Laura at Inspiration, Inc. and my class had a chance to meet her via videoconferencing. We had a very good connection and the class marveled in just how easy it was to accomplish the connection. After Laura introduced herself, we connected via Glance so that we could share her screen. Laura and I have done this before with some other classes but it was the first time we were using Glance to share her screen. Using the latest version of Glance and my account I was able to Start a session and view Laura's screen. As I have noted one of the things that I like most about Glance is just how easy it is to use. Today was a perfect example- within seconds of starting the session, Laura's screen was up and my class was viewing her computer. Laura did a great job of demonstrating InspireData which continues to impress me. Just this past week I modeled for a fifth grade teacher how to set up a mock election by using the eSurvey feature within InspireData. Glance was really fast and the screen redraws were nearly instantaneous. It was a great session and Glance worked flawlessly. My students were very excited to participate in the webinar and began to see just how these tools could be used together to deliver professional development and instruction.

After the short webinar- I had a chance to show them OoVoo and connected with Philip Robertson from OoVoo. We had a great conversation and the students remarked on the clarity of the image and the quality of the audio. We also had a chance to record the session which is another benefit of OoVoo and I had a chance to replay it for them. The session was a big hit and once again Philip came through and provided some great information and his great sense of humor. In in all it was a great day of teaching!

Screensharing and More with Glance

Over the years I have used Glance to do webinars and for screen sharing sessions. One of the things that I like most about Glance is the ease of use and the lack of complexity. This is crucial especially when you are supporting others who may not be technically inclined. With Glance you simply select, Start a session and you are provided with your Glance.net URL and a session key that you provide to your client. It is just that simple- your client goes to the URL address provided, enters the session key you provided them and within seconds they see your screen. Like I said before, if you are working with clients that are new to this type of support it is crucial that the process is streamlined and easy. In the case of Glance, I have to say it is as easy as it gets.

Just yesterday, I received an email from Glance that they released a beta of the Glance application so that now you will be able to view your clients screen and take remote control to help provide support. To provide remote support using Glance it is as simple as selecting Start session - view guest's screen. You will be prompted if you want to just initially view or if you would like to view and take remote control of your clients computer when they log in. Again you simply provide your client with your Glance URL address and the session key. Once this accomplished they will be prompted to download a small viewing application. Having tested it out this past week the download and installation went very quickly. Once installed you will now be able to view your clients screen and remotely control their computer. This is a great tool for providing webinars and now for doing remote support without having to leave the office.

Glance starts at $49.95 a month or $499 dollars for a full year for a Glance Personal account. The program is cross platform and I have used it with my PC and my Mac with excellent results. For the Glance Personal account you can host an unlimited number of sessions and can have up to 100 users online with you- which is great for webinars. There are Glance Corporate accounts as well which you can find out more information about on their website. Some of the new features like sharing your clients screen and remote access are only available at this time on Windows. Hopefully this will change. Glance has been really good about adding support for Macintosh, so I will assume that it is just a matter of time.

In these tough economic times, tools like Glance are going to make a real difference in allowing consultants and trainers to provide high quality services without the need to travel. If you are looking for online training in Captivate 3, MindManager 7, JCVGantt Pro, Adobe Presenter or Adobe Acrobat 9 Extended give me a holler. Imagine how much time can be saved by doing training in the privacy of your home or office using tools like Glance. Glance is very easy and powerful tool that simply delivers! So if you have the opportunity download the application and give it a try, you will be glad you did.