CrossLoop for Mac Released

I have been CrossLoop user for some time now and was delighted to learn today that CrossLoop for Mac is available. This easy to use tool allows any two computers to do screensharing and remotely control the other computer. The only problem prior to this announcement, was, that it only worked on the Windows platfrom. With the release of CrossLoop for the Mac you can now have sessions with your Mac as well as you Windows buddies. CrosLoop will allow you to collaboratively work on documents as well as provide you a platform for doing remote support and transfer of files. CrossLoop requires OSX 10.4 (Tiger) or later, an Intel processor, 20MB disk space and 500MB of RAM. CrossLoop will not work on a PowerPC Mac. So if you are looking for training or support check me out on CrossLoop!

CrossLoop and Skype to the Rescue!

Just yesterday evening Karen Janowski and I completed and successfully submitted our NECC 2009 Proposal. When all is said and done we could not have done it without Skype and CrossLoop. Karen and I set up a CrossLoop session and I had my computer logged onto the the NECC Submission Proposal Screen ready to go. At any point in time Karen could jump right onto my screen and make edits and add text. Using Skype for the audio we were able to complete the process in about an hour's time. Having Karen have access to my computer screen as we filled out the form made life so much easier. We didn't have to email or pass text from one another or get confused as to where we were in the process. If I had to do it again I would definitely turn to Skype and CrossLoop to complete the online proposal. Having these two tools at our disposal made this a truly collaborative experience and one that allowed us to efficiently complete the task at hand. Now the hard part- waiting until December to find out if our proposal was accepted. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Where did the Summer Go?

As I write this post, I am reflecting on the past several days as my wife and I got my daughter situated and moved into her college dorm. If you have never moved a child into a a dorm or an apartment it sure is a lot of work! Once again another transition, as all of us move into our respective lines of work. Tomorrow I am back at the College of St. Elizabeth to start the Fall 2008 semester. It is hard to believe just how fast the summer went! I am eagerly awaiting to see my graduate students and look forward to sharing with them the trends and the new and exciting products that will soon be released. There is no escaping the impact that Web 2.0 has had on the field of educational and assistive technology as more and more mainstream tools on the web find their way into the work that we do. With free text to speech applications and the range of applications like Google Docs, Buzzword, Jing, and Jott- just to name a few, the combinations are endless as we craft our recommendations for the students we work with. As more and more teachers become aware of the power of wiki's- they can really begin to help students make their curriculum more accessible for those students that need it. All this summer I have been working with teachers on a math grant applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning into their math lesson plans. It has been exciting for me to watch how the teachers have embraced the UDL theory and have been able to plan accessible lessons which have been scaffolded with technology.

Reflecting on my trip to NECC 2008- this year will go down as the year of the netbook. If you haven't had a chance to look at these ultra small notebooks now is the time to do so. The netbooks will be seen as just one more vehicle for students to have a rather inexpensive tool to access the internet with. Weighing in at about 2.2 pounds these devices will will run Window XP and in many cases a variant of Linux. Asus, Acer, and HP have jumped into the bandwagon and soon Dell will announce their new netbook which will probably be released later this month. Schools will begin to look at these devices more seriously because of the cost and their functionality for the money. Many of the netbooks start at around $300 dollars and up. It should be interesting to watch as schools begin to adopt these tools.

Teaching at the college gives me another perspective from the vantage point of higher education as to how technology is being applied for instruction. At the college all students have access to Blackboard which is used as a portal for instruction. I have created some very rich courses using Blackboard that provide my students with a multitude of resources. Over the years I have developed many learning resources for my students using Camtasia Studio, a wonderful application for creating screencasts and video tutorials. At NECC 2008, I was introduced to Adobe Captivate 3 which I will add to my einstruction toolkit. Adobe Captivate 3 not only allows you to create video demonstrations, but also allows you to quickly develop compelling interactive media which you can output to Flash. I will be posting some more information about Adobe Captivate 3 in some later posts in September.

Certainly, collaboration is the buzzword and I'm sure going forward you will be hearing more and more about this as developers add these features into their existing applications. But you only have to look to Web 2.0 technologies to see that the foundation is already there for example in Google Docs and Buzzword, just to name a few. For this reason it will become even more important when we are educating our students and preparing them for the world or work that they have opportunities to work in teams and to collaborate with others outside the context of their school. Do what you can to seek out the exciting projects like the Flat Classroom Project that are taking place on the web to give your students these invaluable opportunities and experiences. I have learned that, yes the world is flat and having tools like Skype, Oovoo, CrossLoop, Yuuguu, Adobe ConnectNow and Dimdim, have allowed me to conduct the work that I do effortlessly without the need to leave my office. So reach out beyond your school and district and challenge your students to use these rich sets of tools to make learning more meaningful and rewarding.

I trust that this will be an exciting start to the school year and I look forward to sharing my ideas and experiences with you as I continue to explore and use new tools. Please feel free to email me with your comments and suggestions.

Croosloop Revisited

While I have talking about Web 2.0 for some time now, the real benefit of these technologies is the ability to collaborate over the web. Just yesterday evening I was collaborating with my colleague and fellow visual mapper Wallace Tait on a visual map. Using Crossloop and Skype we were able to collaboratively work on the visual map as if we were in the same room. The speed and clarity of the screen was really unbelievable. Using readily available Web 2.0 technologies made this collaboration possible at no cost to either myself or Wallace. Using Skype for the audio and Crossloop for the screen sharing session was a real winner all around.

Using these technologies it is now possible to provide high level support, training, and collaboration wherever you may reside. All you need is high speed internet and a free Skype and Crossloop account. If you are looking for training and support in the comfort of your home or office just drop me a line to find out how we can get started. This type of support and training is ideal when you get in a pinch and need someone to turn to. I offer free estimates and would be glad to speak to you over Skype about your training or support needsor feel free to email me.

Sharing with Crossloop

A couple of days ago I had mentioned that I came across a screen sharing application called Crossloop and just yesterday evening, I finally got a chance to work with it with my colleague Wallace Tait. Both of us were talking over Skype and decided that we wanted to take a look at how JCVGantt worked with MindManager in preparation for the IQ Visual Mapping Conference that is planned for October 2-3, 2008. We both started up Crossloop and exchanged our access keys that we entered into the Crossloop widget. In a matter of seconds we were connected and a dialog box popped up asking for permission to share each other computer screens. Once I clicked on the OK button I was able to see Wallace's screen and I could control his computer as if I was looking over his shoulder. The screen was very clear and there was no noticeable delay when I was moving icons or double clicking on applications to start them up. Since Wallace could also use the mouse as well, there were times when we would both try to do something and realize that we had to wait for the other person to relinquish control of the mouse. Other than that it was easy to go back and forth with sharing our screens by clicking on control icons that I would consider to be a very easy and intuitive to learn how to use. Crossloop is a free tool for Window's users that would be ideal for one on one webinars and for doing remote support. Using this technology both computers would need to have Crossloop client installed. Once installed it is very easy to use to get your session started. Download Crossloop and let me know how you successfully used it in the work that you do. If you are looking for training in the comfort of your home or office, over the web, in the area of assistive technology, visual mindmapping, or project planning- shoot me an email and I will let you know how we can get started.

Interested in trying Crossloop?

I recently came across a free screensharing tool called Crossloop that lets you share your computer screen and take control of the other person's computer. I am interested in trying it out with someone to see how well it works. To get started you need to download a free copy of Crossloop from their website. It was easy to download and install. Once you have it downloaded shoot me an email so we can see how well it works.