iChat
Accepting a Request to Screenshare via iChat
26.February.2011 08:06 Filed in: Tech Tips
Sometimes, particularly during the summer, District
21 and Help Desk staff members will use iChat to
provide support remotely to an individual computer
user. First, as a point of clarification, let's be
clear that, using iChat, technical support team
members cannot access your computer, including
screensharing and video chat with your webcam,
without you accepting the request.
When a technical support team member seeks to connect with your computer using screensharing through iChat, you will see a box pop up on your screen that looks like that pictured below.
When this box pops up, you will need to move your mouse over this dialog and click on it.
After you have clicked on the box, it will morph in to a dialog like the one pictured below:
After clicking Accept, the screenshare will begin, and audio will be live between both participants. (You can hear one another!)
When a technical support team member seeks to connect with your computer using screensharing through iChat, you will see a box pop up on your screen that looks like that pictured below.
When this box pops up, you will need to move your mouse over this dialog and click on it.
After you have clicked on the box, it will morph in to a dialog like the one pictured below:
After clicking Accept, the screenshare will begin, and audio will be live between both participants. (You can hear one another!)
An Update on Updates!
12.July.2010 22:04 Filed in: Tech Tips
During the last two weeks of July 2009, we installed
30 new Apple Xserves, and we completely re-configured
the relationship between users (people), clients
(regular computers you use), and servers (servers!).
At this time, we also set-up two dedicated wiki and
blog servers--one that is designed to serve the
public (teacher blogs for parents, classroom projects
with students, etc.) and one that is designed to be
used collaboratively by teams (to support teaming).
When we installed the servers, the operating system was at 10.5.7. Shortly after the school year started, we upgraded all thirty servers to 10.5.8. Then, Apple released 10.6, Snow Leopard. This type of update was too significant to perform over a weekend. (It is taking us nearly three weeks to do during the summer!) In the past, we’ve typically left servers running with whatever operating system it was using when it was originally set-up. Now, with new servers in place along with lots of new clients, we have upgraded the servers to Snow Leopard. Specifically, each of our Mac servers will be running OS 10.6.4 by the end of this week.
We’re excited that by the end of this week, all of our open directory and file servers will have been upgraded. We have already upgraded the iChat, wiki, and teams servers, yet there is additional work that has been required on each of these before we can be fully up and running. So, here’s the run down on exactly where these servers are at right now:
iChat
After an extensive period of tweaking settings and testing, we are pleased to officially announce that iChat is back open. It seems to be working just fine with both text and video chats working. iChat is open right now as this is written, so chat away!
Teams
The teams.ccsd21.org wiki server that is used by teams is also working, but we’re needing to go through and reset permissions for each group. We had worked extensively with Apple prior to this upgrade in order to determine what type of issues we may have with blogs and wikis. Even from inside Apple, we heard very different reports on how this update might go. Overall, this update went well, but we are having to reset permissions on each of the approximately 200 wikis that we have in use for teams in District 21. We hope to have this work done later this month. Once this work is done, we will ask iTech teachers to go in to Active Directory and update which staff members are in which groups. When this work is done, everyone will be able to be a part of whatever teams they are a part of for the 2010-2011 school year! We do thank teachers for their patience as we work through this process for the first time.
Wikis
The wiki.ccsd21.org wiki and blog server has seen the same issues as the teams.ccsd21.org server. Here, though, there will be additional testing that we are undertaking as we look to potentially utilize Active Directory to manage the users on the wiki server. (Prior to now, we have had to enter each user individually on this server. We have done so in order to meet our web page policy that requires us not to post the first and last names of students.) Individual wikis and blogs will come back online as we can (with sites in which only staff post being up first), and we will let the individuals running those sites know when they are up.
When we installed the servers, the operating system was at 10.5.7. Shortly after the school year started, we upgraded all thirty servers to 10.5.8. Then, Apple released 10.6, Snow Leopard. This type of update was too significant to perform over a weekend. (It is taking us nearly three weeks to do during the summer!) In the past, we’ve typically left servers running with whatever operating system it was using when it was originally set-up. Now, with new servers in place along with lots of new clients, we have upgraded the servers to Snow Leopard. Specifically, each of our Mac servers will be running OS 10.6.4 by the end of this week.
We’re excited that by the end of this week, all of our open directory and file servers will have been upgraded. We have already upgraded the iChat, wiki, and teams servers, yet there is additional work that has been required on each of these before we can be fully up and running. So, here’s the run down on exactly where these servers are at right now:
iChat
After an extensive period of tweaking settings and testing, we are pleased to officially announce that iChat is back open. It seems to be working just fine with both text and video chats working. iChat is open right now as this is written, so chat away!
Teams
The teams.ccsd21.org wiki server that is used by teams is also working, but we’re needing to go through and reset permissions for each group. We had worked extensively with Apple prior to this upgrade in order to determine what type of issues we may have with blogs and wikis. Even from inside Apple, we heard very different reports on how this update might go. Overall, this update went well, but we are having to reset permissions on each of the approximately 200 wikis that we have in use for teams in District 21. We hope to have this work done later this month. Once this work is done, we will ask iTech teachers to go in to Active Directory and update which staff members are in which groups. When this work is done, everyone will be able to be a part of whatever teams they are a part of for the 2010-2011 school year! We do thank teachers for their patience as we work through this process for the first time.
Wikis
The wiki.ccsd21.org wiki and blog server has seen the same issues as the teams.ccsd21.org server. Here, though, there will be additional testing that we are undertaking as we look to potentially utilize Active Directory to manage the users on the wiki server. (Prior to now, we have had to enter each user individually on this server. We have done so in order to meet our web page policy that requires us not to post the first and last names of students.) Individual wikis and blogs will come back online as we can (with sites in which only staff post being up first), and we will let the individuals running those sites know when they are up.
Chatting it Up--iChat on Staff MacBooks
26.April.2010 07:43 Filed in: Tech Tips
The
one topic that has been hit-or-miss in terms of
coverage during opening trainings with Staff MacBooks
has been iChat. iChat is a program installed on the
Mac that allows users to conduct text and video chats
as well as do screensharing. As part of our server
work during the Summer of 2009, we set-up an iChat
server in the District, and with that, we are
launching iChat as a service to support our
Professional Learning Community Goals as we
distribute the Staff MacBooks.
iChat uses a chat service called Jabber, much like AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM). iChat is completely housed on a District server. This allows all chats to be logged (for legal and safety reasons), just like District email. While iChat has a video chat component (as well as screensharing), this cannot be used inside the District before or during the school day due to bandwidth concerns. Video chat can be used when both (or all three!) individuals are outside of District 21.
To use iChat, simply launch iChat and enter your Active Directory password when prompted. iChat is already configured for each user when the laptop is deployed. If you want to add colleagues to your iChat “Jabber List,” you can do so by clicking the “+” button at the bottom of the iChat Jabber List window.
In the next dialog that pops up, enter the following information:
After you click “Add,” a message will be sent to your Buddy the next time she or he opens iChat asking if they want to accept your request. If they currently have iChat open, they will receive your request almost immediately.
When a request is pending (such as Debbie Willing or Sue Werneske in the image below), the user’s name will be grayed out until they accept (or deny) that request. Other users who appear grayed out are individuals (like Tracy Crowley in the image below) who are Buddies in your Jabber List but are not currently online.
Online Buddies appear in the top portion of your Jabber List with their current status. If they are marked with a “red dot” status, they can contact you, but you cannot contact them, such as Sofia Klein and zzzsxk in the image below.
To change your status, you can simply choose from the pull-down menu that appears beneath your name at the very top of the Jabber List window.
What are some uses of iChat?
iChat is super-useful when doing “individual deskwork” for getting help or quick questions answered. Rather than having another email queue in your Inbox, if your teammate or colleague is also online, you can throw the question or comment to them via iChat, and they can respond. Following the exchange, both individuals can get right back to work. In our iTech team, we find that this is a great way to stay in touch across buildings and to get quick questions answered “on the fly”. It has significantly enhanced our ability to provide the information needed to one another to increase the productivity of staff members around us and to enhance student learning.
Can I use iChat with non-District 21 employees?
You can set up other Jabber or AIM accounts in iChat, but we are not able to provide support for doing so. Additionally, for personal chats, there are lots of free, online text and video chat services that can be used. For conversing via video, audio, or text chat with and between our students and other students, authors, or experts in the field, we currently are using Skype. We have dedicated Windows computers to handle this as we also need to, again, control the amount of bandwidth. If you are interested in doing a project such as this, please contact the Tech Office well in advance of your project, and we will be really excited to support you and your students in this. In the future, we hope to people to, through additional testing, ensure that District 21 staff members can connect via their District 21 iChat account with users of Google Talk. As we solve our need for ever-increasing bandwidth, we also hope to possibly add Skype to Staff MacBooks when they are re-imaged during Summer 2011.
As you use iChat, we would love to hear your specific examples of how it is improving instruction through enhanced collaboration and teaming. Please email those stories to us at tech *AT* ccsd21.org!
iChat uses a chat service called Jabber, much like AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM). iChat is completely housed on a District server. This allows all chats to be logged (for legal and safety reasons), just like District email. While iChat has a video chat component (as well as screensharing), this cannot be used inside the District before or during the school day due to bandwidth concerns. Video chat can be used when both (or all three!) individuals are outside of District 21.
To use iChat, simply launch iChat and enter your Active Directory password when prompted. iChat is already configured for each user when the laptop is deployed. If you want to add colleagues to your iChat “Jabber List,” you can do so by clicking the “+” button at the bottom of the iChat Jabber List window.
In the next dialog that pops up, enter the following information:
- Account Name = Active Directory Username + “@district21odr.d21.k12.il.us”
- First Name = Enter the First Name as you want it to appear in your Jabber List
- Last Name = Enter the Last Name as you want it to appear in your Jabber List
After you click “Add,” a message will be sent to your Buddy the next time she or he opens iChat asking if they want to accept your request. If they currently have iChat open, they will receive your request almost immediately.
When a request is pending (such as Debbie Willing or Sue Werneske in the image below), the user’s name will be grayed out until they accept (or deny) that request. Other users who appear grayed out are individuals (like Tracy Crowley in the image below) who are Buddies in your Jabber List but are not currently online.
Online Buddies appear in the top portion of your Jabber List with their current status. If they are marked with a “red dot” status, they can contact you, but you cannot contact them, such as Sofia Klein and zzzsxk in the image below.
To change your status, you can simply choose from the pull-down menu that appears beneath your name at the very top of the Jabber List window.
What are some uses of iChat?
iChat is super-useful when doing “individual deskwork” for getting help or quick questions answered. Rather than having another email queue in your Inbox, if your teammate or colleague is also online, you can throw the question or comment to them via iChat, and they can respond. Following the exchange, both individuals can get right back to work. In our iTech team, we find that this is a great way to stay in touch across buildings and to get quick questions answered “on the fly”. It has significantly enhanced our ability to provide the information needed to one another to increase the productivity of staff members around us and to enhance student learning.
Can I use iChat with non-District 21 employees?
You can set up other Jabber or AIM accounts in iChat, but we are not able to provide support for doing so. Additionally, for personal chats, there are lots of free, online text and video chat services that can be used. For conversing via video, audio, or text chat with and between our students and other students, authors, or experts in the field, we currently are using Skype. We have dedicated Windows computers to handle this as we also need to, again, control the amount of bandwidth. If you are interested in doing a project such as this, please contact the Tech Office well in advance of your project, and we will be really excited to support you and your students in this. In the future, we hope to people to, through additional testing, ensure that District 21 staff members can connect via their District 21 iChat account with users of Google Talk. As we solve our need for ever-increasing bandwidth, we also hope to possibly add Skype to Staff MacBooks when they are re-imaged during Summer 2011.
As you use iChat, we would love to hear your specific examples of how it is improving instruction through enhanced collaboration and teaming. Please email those stories to us at tech *AT* ccsd21.org!
