EIT's Centra Central

Activating the microphone using a Mac

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:51:17 -0600

We all know that to use your microphone with a PC in a Centra session you must hold down the CTRL (Control) key while speaking. When you press the CTRL key, your microphone icon to the left of your name turns yellow.

This key-command on a Mac computer is different. To use your microphone while on a Mac computer you will need to press the "Option" key (the one that is two keys to the left of the space bar). Pressing this key will activate your microphone (and turn your microphone icon yellow) and allow you participate in the session.

editing a recording

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:32:31 -0600

It's relatively easy to edit a centra recording.

First go to Manage Events and locate the event.
Click Manage Recordings, then click Edit
In the recording editor, create index points to indicate start and end points to delete. Delete as appropriate.
Then publish the edited recording.
Back at the Manage Recordings page, make sure that the recording that you want users to play back is the one with the word Yes in the Selected column. Click the No to change to a Yes if necessary.

To get a handout of this process with screenshots visit http://eit.tamu.edu/centra.html

emailing enrollees to remind them of event

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:20:48 -0600

It's a good idea to remind people of an event beforehand. Depending on your participants, you may want to remind them a couple of days before, the day before, and then even the morning of an event! And emailing also gives you the opportunity to attach some pre-event reading material, or an agenda of topics, or share a URL for participants to visit before the event.

If you're enrolled in the event as the leader, you can get to the list of attendees by going to My Schedule, and clicking on the View Enrollment link of the specific event. There you'll see a link with the words Email Enrollees, that will do just that when you click it. It will launch your email application and start a new message addressed to the email addresses of those enrolled in your Centra event. Just compose the message, attach a file, include a URL... and send the message.

you CAN use centra with non-employees

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:33:30 -0600

Remember that you can use Centra for more than internal professional development and meetings. Not that it's not great for that- it is- but it can be used for so much more. Meetings with volunteers. Bringing in a guest speaker from afar to present, either to a room full of people or to rooms full of people at their own computers. Bringing you, as a speaker, to a remote location, to meet or to present, without traveling from your office.

With Centra you can save time, money, and do more with less. In more ways than you might have known.

New Friday Online events scheduled

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:58:04 -0600

You've probably noticed that your Friday mornings seem to be less productive this summer. You're not moving as quickly, learning as much, getting excited about discovering new things...

But don't worry, Friday Onlines will be back in the fall- to bring life, excitement, and learning back to your Friday mornings once again!

The new schedule of events is posted and open for enrollment. Read all about it at http://tcewiki.tamu.edu/wiki/Friday_Online_Topics.

recordings can be edited

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:27:16 -0600

If you ever want to remove pre-event or post-event chit chat from a centra event, you can! While it's not a robust editor (like Camtasia), Centra's built in editor can take care of those little things quickly and easily. To learn more check out the Editing Centra recording (PDF) document.

hey we've got education

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:17:17 -0600

We've got a subscription to centra online courses!

Contact EIT at CentraHelp@ag.tamu.edu or 979.845.9689 to get the subscription number you'll need to enroll in any of the online courses offered thru Centra. Browse the list of classes on PDF or follow the online classes link to view them from centra's site.

There are all kinds of topics, from Incorporating Multimedia Content to Interactivity and Learning Styles and from Using Application Sharing and Web Safari to Client Help Desk: Audio Issues. And they're taught by real live Centra experts! You can take any or all that sound interesting. So get with us, get the subscription number, get enrolled, and get to know centra better.

remind yourself to remind your users

Wed, 16 May 2007 14:04:34 -0600

when you take the time to schedule, plan and lead a centra event, you want users to attend! Sometimes people forget, though. There are days that I can only remember what I need to do today, so I can relate! So it's a good idea to remind people that your event is coming up and that their presence is expected. I try to remind users a couple of days before, the day before and the morning of an event. And it's easy to do in centra. As a leader, go to Manage Events and click on Edit Enrollment. Look for the link to Email Participants and click it. An email message will be generated in your email package with the participants' email addresses populated. So don't forget! And don't let your users forget either........

break out!

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:20:00 -0600

Breakout rooms are so cool in Centra-you've gotta try 'em!
Just like you'd use a physical breakout room... to have two (or more) groups discuss and/or work on different things for a time, then come back together and share-or not. Whatever works for you. Luis Saldana has used 'em. When will you??

To learn more about lending centra and using breakout rooms download the meaty Leader Guide PDF at http://eit.tamu.edu/Centra/C7_Leader.pdf. The breakout room info starts on page 133.

Use Firefox not Internet Explorer 7

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:07:52 -0600

If you're not sure what version of Internet Explorer you've got, just go ahead and use Firefox anyway. You're less likely to have problems getting Centra to run properly.

If you don't have Firefox go get it right now by clicking the big green button that looks like this image at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

On Windows, Firefox will even import your Internet Explorer "Favorites" when first installed. It will ask you if that's ok, and if you say yes it will walk you thru the process quickly and easily
as shown here. It's nearly magic!

expand your audiences with guest attend

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:27:56 -0600

Listen to more about guest attend in Centra
Centra doesn't have to be used for just internal audiences! You can present virtually, volunteers can meet virtually, you can teach 4Hers virtually... with centra. With non-employees, though, you don't need them to set up an account and register for an event. It's better for you to create the event then email them a URL (a long ugly one but at least it's clickable) for them to click to attend. Once the event has been created and someone (you?) has been enrolled and set as a leader, go get the URL to paste into your email message. Go to Manage Events, find the event you just created (you did put it in a topical folder, right?!) and click Modify. About 2/3 of the way down the page you'll see a Guest Attend URL. Told you it's long and ugly! You can drag thru it and right click copy (or CTRL C) then open a new message, enter some info about the event and the words "click this URL to attend" then right click paste (or CTRL V) the URL in.
Simple!!!

takes a minute but it's worth it

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:32:49 -0600

Just this morning we installed Service Pack 3 to Centra version 7.5...This means Mac users can join us in Centra! The update also knows that PPT 007 is just PPT, and can import PPT files just fine. Although I haven't tried it with the new funky 007 extension...

It takes a minute to load because you've gotta get the new files so you might want to log in at 1:20 for your 1:30 event instead of at 1:29 or 1:31 :)

Click here to View centra image

mac-friendly centra is on the horizon

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:40:20 -0600

calling all mac users (you too, ag comm!) ...

a mac-friendly centra is on the horizon!
your excuse for not using centra is about to go away!

no- don't start thinking of new excuses. Come on, mac fans- this is a good thing.

more details, including when it's ready for you to use- coming soon.

stay tuned!

please put your things away neatly

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:05:58 -0600

When you're creating an event, PLEASE take a minute to look over the many topical folders & click on one before you click the "new event" button. That will put the new event into a topically appropriate folder, which people can find by going to the folder. They can search for it too, by name or by date.

[View image of Folders]

If you don't take a minute to look over the many topical folders that exist & click on one before you click the "new event" button, then the event you're creating gets dumped into a general Event folder (the one that holds all the topically appropriate folders). The events that are there are like unfiled papers strewn all over the floor. Or unfiled email messages that fill an inbox.

You DO put email messages in folders and don't leave hundreds of them in your inbox, right?? [View my GW Folders- I have 4 unread messages in my inbox]

If not stop reading this RIGHT NOW and go to the groupwise help page at http://eit.tamu.edu/gwresources.html

You'll be a much happier camper if you put your things away neatly....

don't even try PPT 2007...

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:57:29 -0600

I thought it would be fun to play with the new version of office- 007 (do they call it double 0 seven? if not they should) so I prepared my presentation for a recent centra with PPT 2007, which I'd just installed. But when I went into agenda builder and wanted to pull in the PPT, agenda builder yelled at me (in a pop up window) and told me to make sure I had PPT installed. I'll have to check and see if it makes any difference how I save it- if I save it as 2003 does that make a difference? But I don't think so, because I got yelled at when agenda builder was trying to open PPT to open the file to insert it. I think it is looking for the old application, and it isn't there anymore.