ISTE 2010- PaperShow for Teachers

In about a week's time I will be heading to Mile High City to participate in what I consider to be one of the most exciting educational technology conferences in the United States. I have been fortunate to be able to attend the ISTE conferences over the past couple years and am looking forward to attending ISTE 2010 which is being held in Denver this year. I will be helping out at the PaperShow Booth as they launch PaperShow for Teachers, a new and exciting presentation tool for the classroom. I have been using PaperShow for the last year or so in my classroom and it is exciting to see the product evolve. PaperShow has allowed me the flexibility to go into any classroom and make my lessons more interactive and allows me to capture and share classroom notes almost instantaneously as a PowerPoint or PDF file.

PaperShow for Teachers, will add a whole new array of tools and set of interactive papers that I know teachers will find a welcome addition to their educational technology classroom toolkit. PaperShow for Teachers will add a wide array of new color palettes that can be used as well as math tools for calculations and the measurement of lines and angles. Teachers will be able to use the Reveal tool, to hide part of the screen which can come in handy for displaying questions and their solutions. So whether you want to use PaperShow for Teachers as a digital flip chart or to annotate your PowerPoint or Keynote presentations you will find PaperShow to be an affordable and easy to use tool to jazz up classroom lessons. If you plan on attending ISTE 2010, stop by and say hello, I will be in the PaperShow Booth # 792. So plan on stopping by Booth #792 and get a chance to see for yourself what all the excitement is about as we launch PaperShow for Teachers.

Using PaperShow in a Training Workshop

Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with high teachers to teach them how they could use SOLO 6 in their classrooms to make the curriculum more accessible. Knowing that I would be doing the training in their computer lab, I brought along PaperShow so that I could use it as a digital flip chart to share information that needed to be communicated. The teachers were very excited to see how I was using PapaerShow and immediately wanted to know how they could use it in their classrooms. Many of the teachers were very excited to see how it could be used to convey information and when I shared with them that the notes could be saved as a PDF or PowerPoint I really got their attention. Many of the teachers that I was working with have access to computer and LCD projector and could take advantage of PaperShow in their classrooms. You can see one of the notes that was captured above, with PaperShow during the training session. I have come to rely on PaperShow when I am doing workshops and now consider it to be a part of my traiing toolkit.

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.

Back from MacWorld 2010

Well I made it back from MacWorld 2010 where we had a great time launching PaperShow for the Mac. All of us from PaperShow were really excited to share this new and innovative application and in the process we won the MacWorld Best of Show Award. To say the least our booth was packed with interested Mac users who wanted to get a first look at PaperShow, a very unique presentation tool. PaperShow allows anyone with a Mac and a projector to come into a classroom or training room and have access to a digital whiteboard that they can write on using the PaperShow flipchart paper. Just write your ideas down using the digital pen and everything that you write in real time is seen on your computer screen. After you are done with your session you can email your notes to your colleagues in a PDF or PPT format. Think of all the possibilities with this tool, especially if you are involved in teaching , training or doing webinars. If you need a digital whiteboard when you are doing webinars then this is the perfect tool for sharing your notes.

If you tend to use PowerPoint or Keynote to craft your presentations then you can easily import your slides into the PaperShow application, print them out on a color inkjet or laser printer onto the 8 1/2 x 11 PaperShow paper and then annotate right on top of them when you are presenting. Again when your presentation is done you can save it as a PDF or PPT and email to your participants. So if you haven't taken a look at PaperShow please take the time to do so-especially if you are looking for a unique presentation tool that you can add to your bag of tricks.

Catch me live here being interviewed at the PaperShow Booth

Canson to Launch PaperShow for Mac at MacWorld 2010

For the past year I have been using PaperShow extensively when I teach, do presentations, and for webinars. It has been a really indispensable tool and I carry PaperShow in my bag wherever I go. Because of PaperShow's ease of use and portability I can walk into any room and within seconds have a digital flipchart ready to go, to share and capture ideas. I have written about my experiences with PaperShow on this blog for the past year and from day one have asked Canson "when will we see PaperShow for the Mac?" Well that day is finally coming and I am happy to share with you that Canson will launch PaperShow for Mac this week at the MacWorld 2010 Conference to be held in San Francisco.

I have worked closely with Canson during this past year and I will be going to MacWorld 2010 to help them launch their new product. I have been working with PaperShow for Mac for the past couple of weeks and in some ways it is even easier to use than the Windows version. With all of the functionality of the Windows version and the ease of use of the Mac this is a real winner. So if you plan on attending MacWorld 2010, stop by the PaperShow Booth in the Exhibitor Hall-Booth 746 and say hello. I will also be doing a presentation on Friday February 12th, a Product Spotlight Session: Make Your Presentations Come to Life with PAPERSHOW for the Mac from 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM. So stop by the booth or come and learn more about PaperShow for the Mac at my presentation.