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Collaboration stations are fixed seating areas where a small group of individuals can gather to collectively work on a group project.
Coupled with software available at the stations, these stations allow for multiple individuals to simultaneously create and edit project files
such as Powerpoint, Excel, or Word documents, or any number of other files. One member of the group uses the PC that is at the station, and the
rest of the group uses their laptops.
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Currently, there are a total of 5 collaboration stations. Four of them are in the 2nd and 3rd floor hallways of Lincoln Hall, and the fifth is in Lincoln Hall room 214.
LH 214 is a classroom, and so usage of this station must be approved by the Office of Classroom Scheduling (3-3640). Signs are posted at each of the hallway stations,
designating them as Collaboration Stations. The PCs installed at each station is just like an ACCC lab machine, but priority usage is for collaboration.
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Basic signage is posted at each location, but here are detailed instructions on how to use the collaboration stations:
Start the host software
- One of the group members should log in to the PC at the station. Credentials are the same as in an ACCC lab: Username is your NetID, and the Password is your
Common Password.
- Once the PC has finished loading, navigate to the Start menu (Windows icon in lower left of the screen), click on Programs -> Online Collaboration Tools -> Teamspot Host.
- Accept the License Agreement. A window will load with some blank fields:
TeamSpot Name - In this field, type something descriptive that lets you know what the host is. I suggest something like "LH 2nd Floor East".
The rest of the fields, with the exception of Location, will fill automatically. You can leave that field blank, and click Next.
- The host software will load a control panel, and then a mini-panel. Wait for the mini-panel (below) to show up before continuing.
Get the client software
- Now that the host software is running, you can download and install the client software to your laptop. To do so, navigate an internet browser (e.g. Internet Explorer,
Firefox, or Safari) to the URL of the host machine. This URL is displayed in the MiniPanel of the host machine (shown below). E.G. type "http://192.168.1.1" in the
address bar of the browser and hit Enter/click Go.
- The page pictured below will load. Click on the Download Software button. You will then be able to select either PC or Mac compatible client software. Note:
you must have administrative privileges on the laptop to install the client software.
- Follow the installation instructions. Once the software is installed, you can proceed to the next step. Note: Mac OS X Snow Leopard users: If prompted to
install Rosetta, choose Install and then re-start the Tidebreak Client application.
Connect the client to the host
- Once the client software has installed, open it. A client Control Panel will open.
- Change the This Machine field to something that uniquely describes your machine to the rest of the group (e.g. your first name).
- If this is your first time connecting to this host, click the New Location button. Otherwise, select the host from the dropdown menu.
- In the New Location window, enter the URL of the host. This is the IP address that is displayed in the MiniPanel on the host machine,
and is the same as you typed into your browser to download the client software.
- Once you have added the new location, click the Join button to connect to the host machine. You will be prompted to enter an access code. This code will
display in the lower right corner of the host machine. Enter the code, click OK, and you will be connected to the host.
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This section will describe the different parts of the software, their capabilities, and how to use them.
In general, to use the software in a collaborative way, you will be sharing screens from your laptop, or all working off of the host machine. To move your mouse onto the
shared screen, move your mouse to the top of your screen, and keep moving it up. It will jump from your machine, to the shared screen.
The MiniPanel
The MiniPanel will be open on each person's screen, including the host machine. This piece of the software is used as the main interface to the program. You can use
this MiniPanel to send files to group members, save an archive of the session, enable annotation, and more.
- Below is a labeled image of the MiniPanel:
- When multiple individuals are on one screen, each person's mouse pointer will have a label next to it. To change what is shown in the label, go to the preferences
menu at the top, and click on PointRight.
CrossWarp
The CrossWarp piece of the software allows each member of the team to send files to another participant or all participants.
- Drag and drop a file or folder onto either an individual participant, All Participants, or Send to Archive in the MiniPanel. You can also drag a web address from
your browser’s address bar to a participant on the MiniPanel, and the page will open on their computer in a new browser window.
- The following window will pop up when you receive a file from another participant. The folder the file is saved to is Documents/Tidebreak/Received.
PointRight
PointRight allows you to move your mouse pointer onto the screen that is being shared.
- To use this feature, just move your mouse to the top edge of your screen, and keep moving it up. You will see this image in the middle of your laptop’s
screen when you are on the common screen.
- Only one mouse is active (can interact with windows, etc) at a time on the common screen. The others are visible on the screen with the user’s initials next to it.
To take control on the shared screen, click the left mouse button.
- Your keyboard will function on whichever screen your mouse is on (shared screen or your laptop).
- To return the mouse to your own screen, simply bring your mouse to the bottom edge of the shared screen, and keep moving it down.
CrossPaste
CrossPaste allows you to copy and paste text and bitmap images between computers. It works between individual client computers and between client and host computers.
- Copy items to the clipboard as you normally would (Ctrl/Command + C, or from a menu in the application you are using).
- Paste will work on whichever screen your mouse is active on.
Archive
The Archive is a real-time record of files, folders, and URLs that have been transferred with CrossWarp.
- To view the Archive, click the Folder icon on the MiniPanel.
- Comments can be added to the archive by clicking on the notepad icon. You can add comments such as 'we need to meet again tomorrow', etc.
- You can save a zipped archive of the session to your laptops. You will see this window when you save the archive:
- The archive will clear at the end of every session. It will ask all users if they want to save or discard the archive at the end,
and the first person to respond decides for all.
- An archive can be reopened from a previous session. Just drag the archive file to “Save to archive” on the mini panel. Note: You will only be able to see
past session archives if the same person logs into the host PC.
Annotation
Annotation allows you to draw on the screen with your mouse, to emphasize or point something out to your teammates.
- Click the pen icon in the MiniPanel. The screen will freeze during annotation and a border will be shown around the screen.
- Click and hold the left mouse button down while moving the mouse to draw.
- You change the annotation color by clicking the mouse without moving it (or right clicking). This brings up a menu at your cursor.
There are options to change the color or clear the screen.
- Mouse over the options, go to the option you want, and then mouse over the center of the circle to choose it.
- A screen shot of your annotations can be saved locally (when you are working on your own laptop) or to the session archive.
Select the option at the bottom of the screen.
- To exit, select the exit option at the bottom of the screen.
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