Duplicate Mode
Since September 2014, the way that the projected image on the Whiteboards works has changed.  Before that point, in fact ever since we have had data projectors in college, they have always worked the same way.  That is, whatever is displayed on your screen was exactly duplicated through the projector onto the classroom whiteboard.  This, surprisingly enough, is referred to in Windows as Duplicate mode.

Since September 2014, this has changed and now does not work the same way.  Below explains the background on the two issues which have required that we change the way the Whiteboards work, and then explains why the new method is better.

Issue 1 – Wide screen computers, none wide screen whiteboards
Even before September 2014 this duplication of monitor and whiteboard was starting to cause issues, and continues to do so.  The problem is that many (most) of the computers in college which are connected to the projectors are wide screen, 16:9 ratio.  However, all of the interactive whiteboards in the college are not wide screen, and instead are a more square 4:3 ratio.

When the image from the wide screen computer monitor is duplicated onto the non widescreen Whiteboard you end up with the black tram lines at the top and bottom of the image on the Whiteboard.  This means a significant percentage of the Whiteboard isn’t used and can make viewing the screen in a classroom difficult.  Some projector models manage this mis-match better than others, but all have the problem to some extent.

A replacement wide screen Interactive Whiteboard costs about £1,000 – £1,500, depending on size, so replacing the college Whiteboards with wide screen version is prohibitively expensive, certainly in the short to medium term.

Issue 2 – PowerPoint 2013
During the 2014 summer holidays we upgraded from Office 2010, to Office 2013 and while we did trail Office 2013 with a number of colleagues before rolling it out to all computers, one of the new features on PowerPoint 2013 took us by surprise.  When presenting a PowerPoint presentation, this new feature called ‘Presenter Mode’ allows staff to not just see what the students see on the Whiteboard, but also allows staff to also see any supporting slide notes and a thumbnail of the contents of the next slide.  Very useful.  The below image shows presenter mode (as seen my the member of staff on their monitor), with the currently displayed slide in the main left section and the thumbnail of the next slide in the top right. In this case there are no notes, but they would be displayed below the next slide thumbnail.

The problem is that in order to show different content on the computer monitor than is on the whiteboard, the Duplicate Mode which we have always used no longer works and is instead changed to something called ‘Extended Mode’.

Extended Mode (The solution to issue 1 & 2)
Instead of simply duplicating the content, Extended Mode allows different content to be displayed on two ore more screens (be they monitors or projectors/whiteboards).  It also allows content to be moved between those screens.

The image below shows my computer, which has two monitors, using Extended Mode.  On the left hand monitor you can see I have the College website open.  I also have PowerPoint open and am starting to drag the PowerPoint application from the left hand (primary) monitor, onto the right hand monitor.  You can see how it is currently spanning both monitors as I’m moving it from left to right. This is what Extended Mode does – it allows the primary monitor (in a classroom, normally the staff PC) to be extended onto the secondary monitor (in a classroom, normally the Whiteboard) and content to be moved easily between them both.

Extended Mode differs from Duplicate Mode by being able to cope with differing screen sizes (16:9 or 4:3).  This means that no tram lines are shown at the top and bottom of the Whiteboard as you get with Duplicate Mode.  This makes viewing the Whiteboard much easier for students.  It also allows for staff to have one thing on the screen for the students to access, but to be able to work and prepare something else on the computer monitor.

Conclusion
As Extended Mode resolves the issue of allowing PowerPoint 2013 to use the new Presenter Mode and the issue of differing display sizes, this is how staff should start to use the computers and Whiteboards in classrooms.  When using PowerPoint, embrace the new Presenter Mode, it provides you with useful information, particularly if you start to add notes to your slides.  When not using PowerPoint, simply move the content you wish the students to see from your monitor, onto the Whiteboard behind you.

While Extended Mode takes some initial getting used to (moving the mouse off the edge of your screen onto the Whiteboard behind you takes some getting used to), once you are you’ll find that it is a much better way of working.

Tip (Left and Right, 1 and 2)
By default the computer will assume that the primary display (your monitor) is to the left of the secondary display (your Whiteboard).  And so when you move content from primary display to secondary display (left to right) and then back from secondary to primary (right to left) it all moves in a logical way.

However, depending on the layout of your classroom, your computer might be to the right of your Whiteboard and you need to tell the computer this.  To do so is easy.  Right click on the desktop and choose SCREEN RESOLUTION and simply drag and drop the graphical representations of your two display so they reverse positions.  APPLY and OK and when you drag content in the direction of your Whiteboard, the content moves in a logical way.

With more documents being uploaded onto our portal sites and private OneDrive folders, there is now an increasing need to edit those uploaded documents.  Doing so is fairly easy and takes advantage of the fact Microsoft have versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that run within a browser.  These apps are called Office Online, and are very useful and increasingly full featured and powerful tools.

Below are the steps to using Office Online to edit documents (in this case from OneDrive, although the same principle works on the portal).

Step 1
Navigate to the online location where the uploaded document is stored, in this case SLs OneDrive folder.  We’re going to edit the online Word Document called ‘Document’.

Step 2
Tick the box to the right to select the document you wish to edit, click on the ‘…’ menu button.  A window will open, showing a preview of the document you’re about to edit.  Once again click on the ‘…’ icon on this window and select EDIT IN BROWSER.

Step 3
The uploaded document will open in the appropriate applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote) on Office Online.  Documents can be edited in the same way as using the full desktop version of the application.

Step 4
Once you have finished editing your document, there is no SAVE button on Office Online.  Instead it auto saves when you exit it.  To exit Office online, simply click on the folder name located in the top left corner, next to the Office Online title.

Microsoft have recently updated their Office 365 email software, with a greater emphasis on the use of their cloud based OneDrive folder.  The below is the updated method to attaching a document from your My Documents folder, or other location on the network.

Step 1
Create your new email, or reply to an existing email as normal.

Step 2
From the INSERT menu, choose ATTACHMENTS OR ONEDRIVE FILES.

Step 3
The default location to insert a document from has now been changed to OneDrive, but to add a document from your My Documents or other Network location click on the COMPUTER icon and the normal browse window will open.  From here you can browse to whatever location and files as normal.

Step 4
Because Microsoft really want you to start using OneDrive, you’ll be asked if you want to UPLOAD AND SHARE WITH ONEDRIVE or SEND AS ATTACHMENT.  To attach a file as normal, simply select the latter.

The UPLOAD AND SHARE WITH ONEDRIVE option is a very useful tool to use, but may require some training to get the most from it.  For now, you can ignore it.

Using Remote Access—Windows 7, 8 and 10

Remote access allows you to connect to the college network from home and access the college network as if you were at college.

When using Remote Access for the first time, or if your computer has recently upgraded to Windows 10, follow the instructions below.

Step 1

Open up Internet Explorer and logon to RM Unify and click on the remote access icon.  Remember, RM Unify can be accessed via the college website.

Step 2
The first time you use remote access you’ll be prompted to install an add-on.  Click on the ‘Allow’ to do so.  You need to do this or it won’t work.

Step 3
When prompted enter your network username and password and click on SIGN IN.  Remember to type ‘norton\’ before your username (as shown in the image to the left)For example norton\sl

Step 4a
The first time you use remote access you’ll be prompted with a confusing message stating your browser is not supported.  Assuming you’re running Internet Explorer 11, don’t worry, you’re not.

Step 4b
Click on the cog (settings) icon, then click on Compatibility View Settings.  Next click on Add.  This will add n-yorks.sch.uk into the list.  Once done, click on Close. You’ll not need to perform this step again.

Step 5
The main Remote Access screen will now load.  Depending on what applications have been made available, you may see more or fewer icons as is shown in this example.  The important icon is the Remote Desktop icon.  Click it.

Step 6
An information box will appear.  Click on CONNECT.

Step 7
If prompted about the identity of the Remote Computer, click OK.

Step 8
You’ll then be presented with network screen with an icon with your username on it.  Click on it and enter your password one last time.  You’ll now have a desktop just as if you’re in college.

Microsoft have released an update to their iPad Remote Desktop App which has fixed the issue which stopped it working.  Version 8.1.5, released on 29th October, can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.  If you’ve previously had an older version on your iPad I suggest you update it.  Don’t have it?  Click HERE on your iPad to get it.

In addition recent updates to the App have changed the look and feel of the way it works, making my previous help guide on setting it up out of date.  Below is an updated version of the my set up guide.  Again, this assumes you’re using at least version 8.1.5 and is already successfully installed to your iPad.

Step 1
Open the Microsoft Remote Desktop App.  If this is the first time you’ve run it, you’ll see the below. If you’ve used it before, I suggest you delete any previous entries.  You might find it easier to simply delete and re-install the app.

Step 2
Click on the PLUS button in the top right and select ADD REMOTE RESOURSE FEED.

Step 3
In the Feed URL field type https://ts.nortoncollege.n-yorks.sch.uk/rdweb/feed/webfeed.aspx
In the User Name field choose to add a new user account and type
Norton\username (where username is your network username)
Tap SAVE.

Step 4
Once done, a familiar looking screen will display.  Click Remote Access.  The first time you run this, you may be prompted to login twice, the first time will create a new Gateway connection, which will then be remember for the next time you use it,

Step 5 (TIP)
Double tap on the black REMOTE DESKTOP banner at the top of the screen to activate side menus and change to TOUCH mode (lower right).  I find this much easier to use.  Doing other wise is like using a badly calibrated Interactive whiteboard.  You’ll see what I mean if you try it.

Final Thoughts
My suggestion is to use Remote Access on the iPad to simply read information from the network, for instance browsing SIMS or reading a document.  I find that the touch interface of an iPad doesn’t’ lend itself very well to creating content, but your own experience and tolerance to it may vary.

Enjoy.

The October network downtime was required to address two specific issues.

SIMS
SIMS is basically a database of information and that database is in a format called SQL.  The college is currently using SQL 2008, but from Easter 2015 SIMS will need to run on SQL 2012.  In addition, the method that we used to push out updates to SIMS uses something called SOLUS.  We are using SOLUS2 and from Easter 2015 we need to be using SOLUS3.  It was decided to update both of these things during the October 2014 half term as staff will probably require SIMS during the February half term and Easter holiday revision sessions which are likely to occur.
Both SIMS updates have been completed.

Storage space
As a couple of members had already identified, the college was running out of storage space on both the Media drive (M) and the Student Shared Drives (W).  In addition the network was also low on available space in ‘behind the scenes’ areas.  While we had the spare capacity, that unused storage space was not in the right locations for us to simply add additional space to the locations that needed it.  Instead we had to shuffle multiple smaller blocks of data around the network, to free up larger blocks, which could then be allocated to more appropriate locations…very much like a logic puzzle game.  This movement of data could only be done when the corresponding server was offline, hence the intermittent outage of the various servers on the network.  This movement of data has now been completed and we should be fine for storage space in the medium term.
Additional Storage space allocated to required areas

Welcome to the IT Support Blog.  This blog is designed to become an archive of useful information for staff and is intended to replace the detailed emails that IT Support often need to send out.

Any feedback staff have on this blog is welcome.