Share Screen
One of the built in abilities of Remote Desktop is the ability to share my screen with every student. It isn’t great for showing full motion video or high depth graphics with heavy bit-depth, but it works well for software demonstrations and presentations. Students don’t have to squint to see the board. I also like to use my iPad and remotely display information from AirSketch (see my earlier post) so I can move around the room during discussion time. The best part is that when I share my screen, the student computers are locked out of being able to use the mouse or keyboard. They have to stop what they are doing and pay attention. I can also select a student screen to display on all the other student machines. That way one student can demonstrate a technique without going to the board and standing in front of the projector. I can at any point steal control of their computer and lock them out if they were to do anything inappropriate.

Open Webpages, and Copy Files
Many times I want all my students to go to a certain web page or open a certain program together. With a short class period (30 minutes) I can use Remote Desktop to open any webpage or application using the SEND UNIX COMMAND option. To open a webpage I just type: open http://www.google.com or whatever page I want them to visit. When the students are practicing their typing skills I often use the Copy function to put a practice file on their desktop for class discussion. I can also open an application to get the class on the same page quickly by using the SEND UNIX COMMAND and typing:
open /Applications/Safari.app

Formative Assessment
I can also use the SEND UNIX COMMAND to open other items such as a Google Docs Form or my Socrative page to give exit tickets to my students in class.

Use OSASCRIPT for more advanced control
If a student has an app open I don’t want them to have open I can silently close it using:
osascript -e ‘quit app “safari.app”‘

I can even login all the computers at once using:
osascript -e ‘tell application “System Events” ‘ =e ‘keystroke “username”‘ -e ‘keystroke tab’ -e ‘delay 0.5′ -e ‘keystroke “password”‘ -e ‘delay 0.5′ -e ‘keystroke return’ -e ‘end tell’

This works on our Active Directory computers which have two boxes for login. You would need to replace username and password with an account on your computer.

Other Ideas
I also like that I can put all the computers to sleep or even shut down at the end of the day from one station. When I’m feeling mischievous I use the SEND UNIX COMMAND with a command of say “hello” to make the computer speak to the students when they have their headphones on. You can also use:
say -v Zarvox “hello” to change the voice of the computer.

Whenever I have a commonly used UNIX COMMAND I save the command with the list of computers in my lab so I can press a single button and re-run that command.

Check out the webpage for this great application here.

Free Tech 4 Teachers

WabbitEmu
http://wabbit.codeplex.com/releases/view/44625

This program is a free download for Mac OSX 10.5+ or PC. I have tested this one and it works great it our classes with the TI-73 rom and the TI-84plus-SE roms. I did not have luck with the TI-85. The PC version seems to run more roms successfully than the MAC version. This program runs very smoothly and once you connect to a Rom file it generally remembers so that it loads automatically. I like to put the Rom file on the Desktop so I can double click to open the emulator immediately.

TI8XEmu
http://www.brandonmeyer.net/projects/TI8XEmu/TI8XEmu.html

This is a Flash program that emulates the TI-82, TI-83, or TI-85. It also requires a ‘Rom’ file, but is great if you don’t have access to install software. Some of the teachers I work with mention that this file can time out after a few minutes requiring you to re-upload the Rom file. With the HTML embed feature of ActivInspire you could put this in a flipchart for quick access. I prefer to just go to the website and turn on the annotate feature in ActivInspire and then use the extra space in the webpage to drop in charts or write out the problem.

Andie Graph
http://dougmelton.com/android/andie-graph/

This is a free app for android. You will need to copy the roms to your phone/tablet. Once they are copied the program will search for them and allow you to chose which Rom to load. Andie Graph supports the TI-82, TI-83, TI-83+, TI-85, and the TI-86. This app runs well and could be useful if you have an HDMI export feature on your device.

Do you already have a board but would like the ability to move around the room and interact?

I purchased a graphire tablet. It is made by Wacom (the same people who make the Bamboo). With the Board software I can have the functionality of a full Board with only a projector and a computer. A graphire is a 6 x 8 bluetooth tablet that works with Windows or Mac. If you don’t have bluetooth on your computer, then you can purchase a USB adapter for less than $20.

I was able to find the tablet online for around $200. It is pressure sensitive and allows you to place a picture in the “frame”. It is meant for tracing a photo. I printed a 6×8 of my desktop to give it the feel of a real screen.

If wireless is not important to you then you could purchase any of the Wacom tablets. Some of them even include touch features. There are currently models priced at less than $75.