Monday, March 26, 2012

Sharing your screen as easy as 1, 2, 3, App #26--Screen leap

Screenleap: http://www.screenleap.com/

(This app allows users to share their screen with another user by simply clicking "share my screen" and then, sending the URL to the other user. And, it's completely free.)

Synopsis: There are plenty of screen sharing sites available today. However, many of them involve giving over remote control and, sometimes, you just want to share your screen. Well, this is where screenleap comes in handy. Smartsync, italc, and Vision Classroom Management software all offer ways of casting out a teacher screen to students. However, Smartsync and Vision both cost money. iTalc if free, but has kinks to it. And, all three of these involve a lot more than just screen sharing. Sometimes, teachers just want to share their screen to students or I, as the Tech Director, want to see an image of a computer screen when I do not have remote access. What's also great about screenleap is that it is not browser specific or tool-specific and it does not require any software to be installed. It really is as simple as one-click. When you arrive at the screenleap Website, click "share my screen," and allow Java to "Run." Once you click "run," your screen is shared and a little dialog box appears.



You have the option of clicking "share entire screen" or "share inside rectangle." You can Pause sharing or Stop sharing at anytime. The code to send out is the 9 digit number at the top of the dialog box (highlighted above in image). In the green line, you can also see how many people are viewing your screen. Again, once you see this box, your screen is sharable. When you return to the screenleap Website, you will find a URL that you need to give to your screen viewers. Once they go to that URL, they will need to enter the 9 digit code that is on your dialog box.



An example of the Website screen is above. And, that is all there is to it! When you are done sharing your screen, click "stop sharing."

Integration This is great for a lab environment. A lot of schools cannot afford expensive classroom management software with screen sharing capabilities and many do not use it enough to justify the cost. However, this is a simple way of sharing a teacher's screen with students at no cost. And, teachers can do it when they need to. Students can also choose to share their screens with teachers. If a student is home sick, they can share their screen with their teacher. Likewise, a tech coordinator like myself can ask teachers to share their screens with this tool. Though I have remote access capabilities, sometimes, it's a larger pain because the teacher has to log off and I am not able to see exactly what they are viewing. This is a simple solution. I can see many ways of adding screen sharing capabilities within the classroom due to the simplicity of this tool.

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