Program Sharing in WisLine Web

With the Program Sharing feature in WisLine Web, you can show live demonstrations of programs that you have on your computer in real time. Your attendees do not need to have the same programs on their computers to see your demonstrations. Movie clips and complex animations do not work well with Program Sharing, however. If you have a movie clip or animation, you should consider uploading it to the Content pane and showing it from there.

To share a program as a resource, click on the Share menu in the Content pane. In the Share menu, choose Share a Program. From the list of open programs, choose the program that you wish to share. If the programs that you wish to share is not open and showing in the list, choose Open a New Program.

To share a program as a slide within a slide set, you must have the Thumbnails pane open. To open the Thumbnails pane, click the Thumbnails button in the Content pane. Right-click on a thumbnail image and choose Insert New Page. Under the Insert New Page menu, choose Share a Program. From the list of open programs, choose the program that you wish to share. If the programs that you wish to share is not open and showing in the list, choose Open a New Program. The Program Sharing slide will appear in the slide list after the thumbnail image that you clicked on.

Regardless of the method you have chosen for Program Sharing, you will have a Sharing toolbar that will appear at the top of the screen while you are sharing. This controls on this toolbar allow you to control your sharing. Descriptions of the different functions are listed below.

• Stop Sharing stops the sharing process and takes you back to the Presenter’s console.
• Pause Sharing pauses what the attendees see while you are sharing. This can be useful if you don’t want to make attendees watch you go through several process steps to get to an end result.
• Give Control allows you to share control of the sharing process with one attendee or other presenter at a time.
• Sharing Options opens the Sharing options window that allows you to control what programs are shared, display features, sharing control, and screen resolution setting.
• Open Content pane opens the Content pane and allows you to perform content management tasks.
• Open Attendees pane opens the Attendees pane and allows you perform attendee management tasks.
• Open Voice & Video pane opens the Voice and Video pane, where you can perform video and audio management tasks.
• Open Meeting pane opens the Meeting pane, which gives you access to the important meeting information.
• Auto Hide allows you to automatically hide the Sharing toolbar.
  

Giving Control

The ability to give control to another presenter or attendee in a session can be useful. If you are working on a shared project, it allows you to take input from other project participants. If you are delivering training, it enables learners to demonstrate their understanding of a task or process that you have taught them. There are many other situations in which the Give Control function might be useful. Of course, you should only give control to another presenter or attendee if you feel comfortable in doing so.

To get started, you must be in the Sharing mode toolbar, click on the Give Control icon. When you do this, a list of the other presenters and attendees in your meeting will appear. Search the list and select the name of the person that you wish to share control with. Once their name is selected, you can click on the OK button. If your session has a large number of attendees, you can use the Find Attendees Containing feature to quickly find an attendee with whom to share control. Simply start typing in letters that are connected in their name and they will rise to the top of the list while the names of other attendees who do not have same letters connected in their name disappear from the list.

Once you have clicked the OK button, there will be a verification window that opens. To share with the person that you have chosen, you must click on the Yes button.

After you click the Yes button, the attendee or presenter you have chosen will get a message box indicating that they have been granted control. For them to manipulate the program, you must keep your mouse still. When you want to take back control, click on the same button in the toolbar that you used to grant control.

Sharing Options

There is also a button on the toolbar that enables you to control some options within the sharing session. When you click on the sharing options button, you will get a window with four different tabs in it. In most normal Sharing scenarios, it is not necessary to use any of the Sharing Options.

The General tab lists all the programs you have open as well as the Desktop and Sharing frame. By choosing another program that you already have open, you can go directly from sharing one program to another without stopping the Sharing process.

Under the Display tab, you can change the amount of colors that are being transmitted during the Sharing process. Sharing defaults at 256 colors. You should only increase the color amount when absolutely necessary, as the increased color increases bandwidth requirements and may reduce transmission speeds for some attendees.

Under the Control tab, you can choose whether or not to allow others to request control when you are Sharing. If you choose not to allow requests, this will not affect your ability to pick someone from the list and share control with them. You can also set a key combination that allows you to quickly regain control of the Sharing session. This is really not necessary, however, as long as you do not hide the Sharing toolbar.

It is also possible to resize the program you are using in the Sharing Application. This can be useful if you have a session with a large number of attendees and they all have the same screen size. You may be able to forego this step, however, by asking the attendees if they can clearly see what you are demonstrating in the Sharing process. You might also ask them to hide their panes by clicking the F5 key on their keyboard. If their panes are hidden and they still cannot easily see what you are demonstrating, you may want to consider resizing your application.

Instructional Communications Systems, University of Wisconsin-Extension
Copyright ©2008 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System