Whether you are teaching, assisting, clarifying, or just plain demonstrating, it is vital for everyone to be on the same page. This concept goes double for demonstrating something on your computer.

Have you ever wanted to show someone else your screen to share a PowerPoint presentation or demonstrate an application? Have you ever needed to help someone with a computer issue but found it impossible without seeing the other’s screen? You may want to give Join Me a try. With Join Me, you can easily share your screen free of charge. To share your screen, you simply go to http://www.join.me and click share. Join Me will ask you to download and run a file. Once you do this, a small toolbar will appear at the top of your screen:

From here, one can add members, start a conference call, have a text chat, share files, give control, and more. The people joining the session can be on Macs or PCs and do not need to install any software, set up an account, or register. At the present time, no VoIP is available in Join Me.

Joining a Join Me session couldn’t be easier. The person who initiated the session lets the user(s) know the nine digit number shown in the toolbar, or provides the information as a link (in an email for example). The recipients can either click the link, or enter the nine digit number into the Join box at http://www.join.me and click the green arrow. Once this is done, you are all set! Up to 250 people can participate in the session, but only one person can be in control of the screen at any one time.

For more a more detailed instructions on how to use Join Me, check out our entry on Join Me in our Wiki: http://edtechnet.wikispaces.com/Join+Me

Dimdim (no we’re not talking about food)

 

 

 

In the expanding global environment it is becoming increasingly important to make sure everyone is connected. Web-conferencing has become a vital tool for companies and other groups as a means to collaborate with one another without being physically together.

Dimdim is an excellent free web-conferencing utility that allows for up to 20 participants in each session. The host signs up for an account via their website and then can send e-mail invitations to other attendees. One of the greatest features is that the participants in the conference do not have to sign up for an individual account to access the meeting. All they have to do is click on the link they received in their e-mail and enter a name to be used in the session.

Some of the key features of Dimdim include:

• up to 20 participants
• Host has video sharing via webcam, while all others share VoIP connections
• Host can share their computer screen, upload a PDF or PPT file, access a website or create a whiteboard for collaboration
• Leadership can be passed to any of the attendees allowing them to share things with the group
• Ability to record meetings allows you to go back and highlight key moments from the session
• compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems to ensure that everyone can participate

So this utility is obviously useful for multi-location business but nobody else right? WRONG! Any creative person could find an effective use for Dimdim. The application particularly lends itself to the educational environment. For example, professors could host web meetings to supplement lectures and develop review sessions.

If this is something you are interested in, follow the link to the Dimdim User Guide