Hello, everyone.
Thank you for coming to this VIN CE practice session.

This practice session will familiarize you with the "mechanics" of the Unity CONFERENCE ROOM so you can focus on course content during the real-time (RT) sessions.

If you're a frequent internet user, it's good practice to clear your temporary internet files regularly (e.g., weekly). Please get into the habit of clearing your temporary internet files before each real-time session. Detailed instructions are provided in:
http://www.vin.com/CE/Public/Vin/ClearTempFiles.htm .

Included there are instructions for many computer system and browser combinations.

You should also confirm that you are running the current version of the Macromedia Flash Player on your computer and download the free, new release if you're not current. For instructions, see:
http://www.vin.com/CE/Public/Vin/Flash.htm .

In a moment I'm going to send you a slide. The graphic will be displayed in a Presenter window within Unity. It's blue link will appear here in the CONFERENCE ROOM text window.

Do NOT click on the blue link that appears in the CONFERENCE ROOM text window. It's not for use during the RT session, but is included so you can display slides from the transcript in the course library.

See Slide 2: Slide link

Please enlarge your Unity Window so that it covers most of the available space on your monitor display area. Using the "maximize" button with Windows is fine. On a Windows PC, it's the middle of the three small, square buttons at the top right corner of your VIN Unity window.

See Slide 3: Maximize Unity window

Let's be sure your Unity window is maximized (enlarged). On a Windows PC, slide 2 shows how the middle button will look when the window is maximized.

See Slide 4: Small Unity window on Mac
"This shows a Unity window opening small on Mac. It has been repositioned to the left side of the monitor."

Here's how to maximize your Unity window on a Mac. When Unity first opens, the window may be smaller than you'd like and positioned on the right side of the display. You may wish to position it elsewhere.

See Slide 5: How to enlarge a Mac window
"Click and drag to enlarge the Unity window."

Grab the gray bar at the top of the window and drag it to your preferred, new position. The Unity window has been dragged to the upper left of the monitor display area. Grabbing the bottom right corner of the window where the three parallel lines are located will allow you to make the window larger. Slide 6 shows the result.

See Slide 6: An enlarged Unity window on Mac

Now the Unity window covers much more of the monitor display space and will allow additional room within the window for polls and Presenter, a special VIN application. Let's look again at VIN's Presenter, which is used for displaying slide shows and graphics during the RT sessions.

The time required to download the slides for a CE session will vary, depending on your connection speed and the demands on VIN's servers. With DSL or cable service, you should expect to receive the slide show within 10 to 12 seconds or so. With dial service, you should expect to receive the slide show within one to two minutes. If you don't, refresh your display.

See Slide 7: F5 button
"Use the F5 button to refresh the screen on a PC."

How to refresh for PCs: click the F5 function key on your computer keypad to refresh your screen. If this doesn't solve the problem, close the browser window; then reenter the CONFERENCE ROOM.

See Slide 8: Apple-R (Command-R)
"The keyboard command to reload (refresh) a page, such as the Unity window in Mac, is to press and hold the Apple key (also called the Command key) and the R key simultaneously."

How to refresh for Macs: use Apple-R (or Command-R) to reload. If this does not solve the problem, click on the red button on the browser window; then reenter the CONFERENCE ROOM.

You can interrupt me at any time if you are experiencing a problem. Do this by "raising your hand."

See Slide 9: Raise your hand
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

To "raise your hand":

1. Type your question or comment into the yellow text-input field.
2. Select the !/? button on the right. This will send either a question mark (?) or an exclamation point (!) into the CONFERENCE ROOM text window.
3. Wait until the instructor requests your question with a "GA" message (that is, "GA, [your initials or name]"). "GA" stands for "go ahead."

See Slide 10: Send text

Once the instructor has acknowledged your "raised hand", you can send your question into the CONFERENCE ROOM by selecting the SEND button.

Sometimes the instructor will ask a question and request that everyone answer. You will see the text "GA all" or "Go Ahead all." This means that everyone can answer without "raising their hands." Simply type your answer into the yellow text-input field and select the SEND button.

You can input long questions or comments; your text will wrap in the text-input field.

See Slide 11: Help in Unity
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

In this CONFERENCE ROOM, you will find the ?HELP button located on the Unity navigation bar near the top right of your Unity window. See the location of the purple pointer on slide 11.

See Slide 12: Help topics

Select HELP GUIDE from the pull-down menu to review the several tabbed sections; they cover many topics quickly and should answer most of your questions. Slide 12 shows the HELP GUIDE front page with a tab for each topic.

Before the first RT session, please read the "Conference Room" tab in the HELP GUIDE, accessed from the ?HELP button.

See Slide 13: OPTIONS menu

The OPTIONS menu is located on the Unity navigation bar near the upper right-hand corner of the VIN Unity window.

To adjust your font size, click on OPTIONS and then FONTS. Use the popup window to set the Unity font size.

To adjust your sound settings, click on OPTIONS and then SOUNDS. Use the popup window to set the sound volume within Unity.

See Slide 14: Unity

Slide 14 shows the full Unity window. Closing all unneeded applications (windows, e.g., e-mail, word-processing software) will improve the performance of your computer during the RT session. We recommend that you close them.

Next I'd like to point out the components of the Unity window on slide 14. The Unity window is the large blue area. You have one or more white component windows inside that blue area. All of the component windows you will be using, i.e., the CONFERENCE ROOM text window, polls, private chats, and Presenter for slide shows and graphics, will be positioned within the blue Unity window.

Component windows (white-background boxes) within the Unity blue area can be resized by dragging the triangle of dots in the lower right corner of each window (i.e., holding down the left mouse button on a two-button mouse while moving the mouse to make the window larger or smaller).

Any component window within Unity can also be moved by positioning the cursor on its title bar when it is orange in color and holding down the left mouse button while dragging and dropping the window where you want it positioned (dropping = releasing the mouse button).

Along the navigation bar where you see the words CONFERENCE ROOM, you will also see icons and titles for any other component windows you have open in Unity, such as private chat windows and active polls.

See Slide 15: CONFERENCE ROOM

Slide 15 shows the CONFERENCE ROOM window. If you need a private chat with a moderator at any time, click on his or her name near the top of the list of users on the right of the CONFERENCE ROOM window. Names of moderators are in bold black type.

During the instructional part of the RT session, please do not start a private chat with the instructors (whose names will be in blue type on the list), as the instructor(s) will be busy running the RT session.

See Slide 16: Talk in private

When the name is highlighted on the list, choose "Talk in private" from the pull-down menu. This will start a private chat session between you and the person whose name you selected.

See Slide 17: Private Chat window
"To close, click on the "x" in the upper right corner of the title bar."

To send text, type into the PRIVATE CHAT text input field and select the SEND button, as indicated in purple on slide 17.

To close the PRIVATE CHAT window, click on the small "X" (close button) in the top right corner of that window.

If you see the words PRIVATE CHAT blinking on the Unity navigation bar, you have a private message to receive.
If the PRIVATE CHAT window is not displayed on your monitor, click once on the words PRIVATE CHAT on the Unity navigation bar to display a drop-down menu with a list of names of those with whom you are currently chatting. Click on a name on that menu to bring the PRIVATE CHAT window forward.

See Slide 18: Minimize or close a Unity window

To minimize a window within Unity (convert the window to an icon on the Unity navigation bar), click on the small "-" (minimize button) in the top right corner of that window. All the windows within Unity, with the exception of the CONFERENCE ROOM have a minimize button.

To close a window within Unity click on the small "x" (close button) in the top right corner of that window. The only windows within Unity that cannot be closed are the CONFERENCE ROOM and Presenter windows. They do not have a close button.

See Slide 19: Restoring Unity windows

To restore a minimized window (open a window and bring it forward in the Unity window) click on the window's name located on the Unity navigation bar at the top of the Unity window.

If a POLL question has been sent to the session participants and that poll is open to accept answers, the word POLL will appear on the navigation bar.

Whenever a poll is open, even when its window is minimized or if the poll window is "hiding" behind another window, the POLL icon will appear on the navigation bar. If your special poll window is not displayed, click on POLL on the navigation bar to restore the poll window.

See Slide 20: Select Poll answer
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

When a poll is sent, you will see a pop-up poll box with the question and multiple answer selections in it.

Select your answer to the poll and SEND it. In our example, the participant has selected and sent the "A" response; it was highlighted.

See Slide 21: Progress bar graph for Poll answers

You'll see a bar graph showing how class participants are answering the poll question. After you send your answer, the words "POLL RESULTS" will appear on the navigation bar.

See Slide 22: Poll results in CONFERENCE ROOM

As soon as the moderator sends the tallied poll results into the CONFERENCE ROOM text window, the "POLL RESULTS" box will disappear from your monitor; you'll be able to view those results displayed in the CONFERENCE ROOM text window.

Poll answers count toward the CE participation requirement. Be sure to participate in all the polls.

If you cannot see the polls, you may need to disable your pop-up blocker.

For instructions about pop-up blocking, see:
http://www.vin.com/CE/Public/Vin/PopUpBlockers.htm .

If you experience difficulties, contact VIN's technical support team at 1.800.846.0028 ext 127 or 1.530.756.4881 (outside the US).

Clearing your temporary internet files and refreshing the display with F5 or Apple-R (Command-R) may also be needed.

Please use a private chat with a moderator if you need assistance with these tasks.

See Slide 23: CONFERENCE ROOM

The CONFERENCE ROOM includes four functional areas:

1. A title bar (orange) where you see the name of the CONFERENCE ROOM (e.g., CONFERENCE ROOM TRAINCE). Tonight and for this CE course your title bar will be labeled CONFERENCE ROOM VINCE.
2. The CONFERENCE ROOM text window where you are reading this text.
3. The text-input box with a SEND button (at the bottom of the window).
4. The list of connected users (on the right). People listed in bold and placed at the top of the list are:
   • instructors (in blue text) and
   • moderators, course assistants, or VIN staff (in black text).

See Slide 24: Hide user list
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

To hide the list of users, click on the slide bar to the right of the list of users. To restore the list, click on the slide bar again.

See Slide 25: CONFERENCE ROOM not in focus
"When the title bar is blue, it indicates that the CONFERENCE ROOM text window does not have focus."

If the title bar for the CONFERENCE ROOM text window isn't orange, then that window isn't active (in focus). Note that only one window can be in focus at a time and only the window in focus can receive input from the user. In slide 25 the title bar is blue, which indicates the CONFERENCE ROOM text window is NOT in focus.

Click on the title bar for the CONFERENCE ROOM text window to change the title bar to orange, and click anywhere outside the CONFERENCE ROOM text window to change the title bar to blue.

To activate a POLL FROM..., PRIVATE CHAT, or any other window inside the Unity window (i.e., to make that window the active window so your keystrokes and mouse commands are associated with that window by Unity), you must be sure that the window's title bar is orange. Then you can answer your poll, respond to a private chat, or take the desired action.

Sometimes participants report that the CONFERENCE ROOM text window isn't scrolling. If you experience this problem, confirm that your CONFERENCE ROOM text window is active (i.e., it has an orange title bar).

See Slide 26: Scroll bar

Use the scroll bar to the right of the CONFERENCE ROOM text window to move to the bottom of the text and view it as it is being sent into the CONFERENCE ROOM text window.

You need the CONFERENCE ROOM text window to be active to SEND a question or comment. Be sure to check that you have the correct window as the "active" window before you decide that Unity is "frozen" and refresh/reload your display.

During most of the RT session, the CONFERENCE ROOM will be moderated. The following message will be displayed when moderation is enabled:
"Moderation has been added by [NAME]."

When I switch the CONFERENCE ROOM to moderated mode, the !/? protocol symbols in front of the text-input field will be replaced with an 'M' and the yellow text-input field will turn white.

See Slide 27: Moderated

With moderation on, you don't need to "raise your hand." You can type your full comment or question and SEND it immediately. Your questions and comments will be redirected to the Question Screener. With Question Screener, the instructors can review your questions and decide which ones they have time to answer during the RT session.

See Slide 28: Green text

You'll personally receive a "green text" message about the resulting delay when your question or comment has been received by the moderators. If your question is chosen by an instructor, it will be displayed in the CONFERENCE ROOM text window at the time an instructor has chosen to answer it. So, expect a delay.

An instructor often receives hundreds of questions during a single RT session and cannot respond to all of them during that session. Even if your question is not answered at the RT session, it will be logged and counted for participation credit. If you don't receive an answer, please post your question on the course message boards. In addition, for those participating for CE credit, both questions and poll answers will be counted.

With moderation off, you will see the !/? button and the yellow text-input field again. These remind you to "raise your hand" (send a ! or ?) and wait to be acknowledged before sending your question.

Your instructor(s) have chosen to deliver a portion of the class orally. This lecture will be recorded and transcribed into the session transcript before the session transcript is posted to the course message boards.

Please make sure to have your PC speakers turned on during the real-time session.

Check that the sound is not muted within Unity:

1. Select OPTIONS->SOUNDS from the Unity navigation bar.
2. Make sure that both Mute "All sounds" and Mute "Conf. room" are NOT checked.
3. Make sure the Volume control is turned up (mostly black). If you need to adjust the volume, click on the black portion of the Volume control and drag it to the desired setting.
4. Select the OK button.

See Slide 29: Presenter

Let's look at Presenter in more detail.

Slide Captions:
See Slide 30: Captions On

Clicking CAPTIONS ON will show the slide captions within the Presenter window.

See Slide 31: Captions Off

Clicking CAPTIONS OFF will suppress the slide captions so they are not displayed in the Presenter window.

If a caption is long, you may use the scroll bar on the right of the caption to read its full text.

See Slide 32: Slide Caption

The slide caption will also be displayed in the CONFERENCE ROOM text window when the slide is sent to the participants.

Slideshow Navigation:
As you've observed, each slide is sent to the Presenter window by the instructor or a moderator at the time it is to be discussed.

Let's look at the various ways provided by Presenter to navigate through a slideshow on your own after the real-time session is over.

See Slide 33: Slide navigation buttons

You can change the slide displayed in Presenter by clicking on the First, Prev, Next, and Last buttons at the bottom of the Presenter window.

When you resize the Presenter window very small, the labels are removed and you will only see the slide navigation buttons.

See Slide 34: Presenter pull-down menu

A pull-down slide menu, accessed from the down arrowhead on the right side of the slide title bar, shows the slide numbers and titles.

A green check will be displayed in front of the menu item when that slide has been displayed in the Presenter window to all participants. The slide currently displayed in the Presenter window will be marked on the menu with an orange circle. If that slide has been sent to all participants by the instructor or moderator, a green check will also appear on the circle.

When needed, the slide menu will have a scroll bar.

See Slide 35: Select a slide
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

After you select the slide to view or if you move the cursor off the menu, the slide menu goes away.

See Slide 36: Presenter Menu

Not to be confused with the slide menu, Presenter also has a command menu. The command menu is named, strangely enough, "Menu". It is located on the lower right portion of your Presenter window as indicated in purple on slide 35.

See Slide 37: Menu On

Within the Presenter Menu is a toggle button that switches between Menu On and Menu Off.
Selecting Menu On from the Presenter Menu will tack the slide menu onto the Presenter display and the current slide will display as a thumbnail to the right of the slide menu.

See Slide 38: Menu Off

The tacked slide menu will remain open until you select Menu Off from the Presenter Menu.

If you advance or move back to view a slide not currently presented by the instructor or moderator, you can select Class Slide from the Presenter Menu to view the slide the instructor last sent.

The Menu entry will display Return (instead of Class Slide) when you're viewing the current slide selected by the instructor. Selecting Return from the Presenter Menu will return you to the slide you were viewing previously. You can use this Menu entry (Class Slide/Return) to review any of the slides we'll be using during this practice session.

There are a few more things to tell you about Presenter.

Getting a Better View:
The instructor can position one or more of three arrows (white, green, and black) to illustrate points or locate features on the slides. These arrows will remain positioned correctly when you resize Presenter. However, they are not available on an enlarged slide in a separate browser window, on Presenter launched from the blue link in the CONFERENCE ROOM text window, or from the course library references.

To view an enlarged slide image outside of Unity, select Open New Window from the Presenter Menu or simply left click on the image in the Presenter window. The Presenter slideshow will be opened at the selected slide in a new browser window outside of Unity.

Don't forget to close the browser window when you are finished with it.

The Presenter image can be enlarged by selecting Zoom In from the Presenter Menu.

See Slide 39: Navigator On

A set of scroll bars are provided with the enlarged image so you can manipulate the portion of the image that is visible on the Presenter stage.

Another way to manipulate the displayed area in an enlarged image is to use the navigator pane. Select Navigator On from the Presenter Menu to open the navigator pane. The navigation pane consists of a miniaturized version of the image with a small frame inside it representing the Presenter stage.

The area on the miniaturized image enclosed by the frame within the navigator pane represents the portion of the larger image that is displayed on the Presenter stage.

See Slide 40: Using the Navigator pane
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

Click and drag the frame in the miniature image, and the larger image on the Presenter stage will be moved to match the framed area in the miniature image.

You can close the Navigator pane by:
* Selecting the large red "X" on the top right corner of the Navigator pane or
* Selecting Navigator Off from the Presenter Menu or
* Repeatedly selecting Zoom Out from the Presenter Menu until the image returns to it's original size.

The Zoom In/Out and Navigator On/Off features are not available for animated slides, videos, or any image file that is displayed at it's largest size (an image that is smaller than the Presenter stage).

See Slide 41: Sample large image - fractal
"This image is 1024x768 pixels large."

Presenter provides controls for modifying the appearance of a slide image. These modifications are temporary and will ONLY affect the image in your Presenter window.

Access the Image Adjustments panel by selecting Adjust Image from the Presenter Menu.

See Slide 42: Image Adjustments Panel

The Image Adjustments panel allows you to make adjustments to the slide image such as modifying the contrast, brightness, and/or color saturation. You can also convert the image to grayscale or invert the colors.

See Slide 43: Advanced Controls Panel

Select the Show Advanced Controls link from the bottom of the Image Adjustments panel to access the complete set of image modification controls.

The Advanced Controls panel provides controls for adjusting the red/green/blue color values for the image, as well as adjusting the sharpness and edge definition.

The image will revert to its original coloring when you select Reset from the Image Adjustments panel or it will automatically revert after you navigate away from the slide.

To close the Image Adjustments panel, select the red "X" in the upper right corner of the panel.

Please wait until the practice session is over to try out the Image Adjustment controls.

Making a Copy:

See Slide 44: Print slides

Print a single slide by navigating to the slide in Presenter and selecting Print followed by the image size from the Presenter Menu.
Print all the slides in a slideshow by selecting Print followed by Print all from the Presenter Menu. Each slide will print on a separate page.

Please note that animated and video slides are not printable.

Select Copy URL from the Presenter Menu to copy the slideshow URL to your PC clipboard. You can then paste the slideshow URL to another browser or some other application on your PC.

To bring up your MyVIN console page and save a link to the slideshow, select Add to MyStuff from the Presenter Menu.

Please wait until we finish this practice session before trying the Print, Copy URL, and Add to MyStuff commands. You can scroll back to review these instructions later.

Presenter now supports iSpring animation and Flash video slides.

Both types of slides may or may not have a sound track associated with them. Presenter will always provide the volume control for these types of slides. You need to pay attention to the slide prompt because it should indicate if the slide is a Flash animation (a.k.a. a swf), a video or an iSpring step animation slide, and whether or not the slide has a sound track.

See Slide 45: Volume controls
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

To use the volume control, hover your cursor over the speaker icon so that it displays a sliding volume control. Dragging the handle up the slide bar will increase the volume of the slide soundtrack; dragging it down will decrease the volume.

Please note that the volume control provided within Presenter is subservient to the Unity volume control available under the OPTIONS menu.

Adjusting the sound volume or muting all sounds from the OPTIONS->SOUNDS menu will affect the Presenter volume too.

iSpring Step Navigation:
The slideshow provided by your instructor may contain iSpring step slides. These slides require manual advancement through the slide animation steps.

During a real-time session, the moderator or instructor will advance through the animation steps for you. When viewing these slides on your own, however, you will need to use the step controls provided by Presenter to progress through the animation steps for the slide.

See Slide 46: iSpring step controls

The Continue button advances the slide to the next animation step.
The Restart button restarts the slide at the first animation step.

Please note the text display showing which animation step is currently being displayed and the number of animation steps in the slide.

See Slide 47: iSpring example - Chain of Infection
Note this slide is an iSpring Step animation.

Flash Video:

Flash Video (FLV) slides will begin playing immediately after loading into the Presenter window.

The FLV controls are located immediately below the Presenter display area.

See Slide 48: Video controls
Note this slide is a Flash SWF animation.

• Play/Pause - a toggle button that causes the player to play or pause the video.
• Skip backward - this button causes the player to skip back a short amount of time.
  Note: this only works when the video is playing.
• Skip forward - this button causes the player to skip forward a short amount of time.
• Go to end - this button causes the player to skip to and play the last few moments of the video.
• Loop - this button causes the player to repeatedly play the slice of video bounded by the start and end loop markers.

See Slide 49: Video example - Feline Ear Prick for Glucose Test
Note this slide is a video and has sound.

If you enter the session after its start or reenter the CONFERENCE ROOM after leaving it, the Presenter window will be automatically available and the correct Class Slide will be displayed.

You can minimize the Presenter window by using the button on the right end of the PRESENTER title bar, but you cannot close it except by closing the Unity window itself. When minimized, it will appear on the Unity navigation bar as a PRESENTER button.

Remember to click on the words, not the icon, to restore minimized windows within Unity.

Speaking of asking and answering questions, don't forget the course message boards. If your questions may require a detailed answer, if you want to expand on a topic, or if the instructor doesn't find time for your question during the RT session, please post it in the appropriate course message board folder.

See Slide 50: CE course navigation bar
"This shows the navigation bar on a CE course main page."

To visit the course libraries and message boards, first go to the main CE page http://www.vin.com/CE . Then click on the log-in for your course to access the course home page. This is the page where you accessed this CONFERENCE ROOM.

The dark blue box on slide 49 indicates the location of the navigation link for the course message boards; the green box, the navigation link for the course libraries.

Click on Libraries or Message Board from the navigation bar at the top of the page.

See Slide 51: Select course message board

The first time you go to the course message boards, select your course (click the radio button; red arrow) and use the down arrowhead to the right of the course entry to display the drop list of course message boards. Select one. Click Find All Messages (green arrow) and read all of the messages posted in every folder for your course.

Thereafter, you may use the Find New or Find Since buttons and select a number of days to indicate the messages to view.

See Slide 52: Initiate new discussion

Please use the Post New button (top right; red arrow) to start a new discussion thread for a topic that has not already been introduced.

See Slide 53: Post new message

When starting a new discussion, add a title for the discussion. Input your message and press Post your New Message.

See Slide 54: Message Board reply

For posting to the message boards (posting is another way to earn course participation credit as well): Please use the Reply button to post additional comments. It's located under an existing post.

Here's a brief reminder about what is required for CE credit. By the end of the course, you must have:

1. Read 50% of the course message boards.
   Note that reading means that you open each discussion thread/topic and read the posted text as if it were a textbook or handout.
2. Actively participated in the course at least three times per week. This can consist of asking questions or answering poll questions during the RT session, answering a question asked by the instructor, posting on the course message boards, and filling out the end-of-course quiz. Any combination of these is acceptable. As you can see, there are many chances for participation and for earning credit. You will receive a stats e-mail so you know < if you need to accrue more participation credit.

Here are some ways to review the information we've presented tonight:

1. Read the practice session text at
   http://www.vin.com/CE/Public/Vin/CEPracticeTranscript.htm .
   You can view and print the text.
2. Scroll back to read the text displayed during this session.
3. Come to the regular class session about 15 - 20 minutes early. Some highlights, especially the new Unity features, will be presented then. The moderators will also be available to assist you at that time.
4. Attend the second practice session for this course.

Remember, if you need help with any CE questions: e-mail CEonVIN@vin.com or call 1.800.700.4636 (US) or 1.530.756.4881 (outside the US) and ask Andrea or Heather to assist you.

Please report any technical problems with the VIN Unity software used for this class. We're available to help tonight. For more serious problems, here's tech support contact information:
* 1.800.846.0028 ext 127 (Wally) or 1.530.756.4881 (outside the US)
* e-mail support@vin.com or
* use the "Click Here for LIVE Help!" flashing live-support banner located on the main CE page.

Thanks for attending tonight's practice session.

See Slide 55: Good Night :-)