Desktop Conferencing

Just come out of the first WEETHE meeting to be held via MegaMeeting. The delivery of the presentations was great and clear, and I felt engaged all the way through these. (I feared perhaps I would zone out a little without seeing the presenter but this wasn’t the case )

There were some connection/technological problems for a few users which did break up the flow somewhat. I didn’t hear some of the questions over the audio channel because the presenter was talking at the same time – perhaps because incoming audio is stopped for the presenter when they lock their mic on transmit. The text box was useful for mentioning the problems I experienced.

I feel that any concise guidance we provide to presenters and/or attendees should include (among other things) instructions about the best way to interrupt if needs be – which is important if you suddenly can’t hear, etc. – and the best place for docs that need to be referred to repeatedly, such as the agenda. It would be great to work together on some guidance on our wiki.

I’d be happy to participate in the odd quick test here and there to work out how to get the best out of the functionality.

The share my desktop allows you to present slides etc., to the rest of the group. If you wish to do this, then you’ll need to ensure you have the plug-in installed.

The following are the settings I use;

• select entire screen
• show chat panel
• allow fit to screen
• set to default enabled
• allow float panels

I’m make them aware that I’ll not see any text chat either during the session or afterwards. Therefore, when I finish the formal presentation then we’ll need to open it up to questions.

The following describes how I’ve set my settings for the WEETHE meeting and why.

After accessing the room;

1. show feedback list. A drop down menu list appears above the attendees list. This lets them signal replies, such as raise a hand, thumbs up and thumbs down. I’ll be using this as a way of people indicating that they wish to talk. To set this setting, click on “host options”, “seating” then select “Show feedback list”. I then close the box
2. set the user rights for the session. I then set the user rights so that everyone in the meeting can share their desktop. This means that everyone can present, if they so wish, as the “share my desktop” button appears. I use this because it is a small number of people in the meeting, and it is a collaborative effort. To do this, click on “host options”, “user rights”, select my name (session admin) and then “copy to all”
3. I then select the noteboard and cut and paste the notice at the bottom of this document in. The intention is to set up the expectations of how the session will run and how people can interact. To add a note, you need to click “make changes” so it becomes editable.
4. I then open up all the supporting applications I’ll need. In particular, my slideshow (powerpoint) that I’m going to present.
5. When appropriate, I the set up Camtasia on the machine to capture the whole screen. This is when I want to capture part of the session, perhaps the more formal presentation and I want to video stream the results.
6. I then add my poll questions. Remember, polls can’t be saved, so make sure you don’t need to exit the session or you’ll lose them !
7. Once everyone is in then I run some quick checks.
a. I say something. If they can hear then they raise their hand using the drop down menu
b. I type in the chat box and they reply

8. Once the meeting starts, then I replace the noteboard with the meeting agenda. The one below is an example of the recent WEETHE Virtual Meeting.

—————————————–
Noteboard

Welcome to the session. The following outlines how the session will be managed.

Audio

A lot of the time the audio is the key to success in these sessions. You are strongly advised to set your audio at the appropriate level. We will start with a very quick sound check. When you are not talking please make sure the audio (top left corner) is not locked on, and the mic level is appropriate.

Contributing

The hope is that all will be able to contribute. Therefore, if you wish to speak please raise your hand. To do this, click on the drop down menu above the attendees name, and select raise hand. If you have a question for all or individual during the formal presentation, then please use the text chat box. I (the presenter) will come back to these later. If you’d like to present some material during the session, such as a powerpoint or web page then ensure you have downloaded and installed the share my desktop software.

Archive

I’ll be recording the session to archive and make available to afterwards to a wider audience. I’ll be using camtasia to capture the event. Please be aware.

———————-

Agenda: 18th March, 2009

1. Welcome & Intro’s – name, role and institution

2. Aims of the session

a. Start an “occassional virtual seminar series”

b. Presentations: Andy Ramsden (Bath) & Hilary Griffiths (Bristol)

3. Next meeting – 25th March, 2009 @ Bath (2.30-4.00)

a. share examples of using desktop conference software in teaching and learning – need volunteers

4. AoB

This morning, I had my training with James from MegaMeeting – and this was also the first time I’d used MM at all. I used the training as an opportunity to test something else as well, namely the mobile broadband connection I now have for my work laptop.

James picked up on my slower connection speed as soon as we started viewing each other’s webcams. My connection speed was 1 MBPS – noticeably slower than the 25 or so MBPS I get over the uni network, but perhaps not too dissimilar to the connection speeds for the people who I’ll be contacting (at partner colleges). Our webcams displayed somewhat jerkily and we decided to turn them off.

The audio quality seemed alright to me, but then again I had lower expectations because of what I’d heard others say, and there were only two of us on the line. The latency was offputting, with about a 4-second delay between my speaking and James hearing it. Needless to say we weren’t lipsynching so well on video.

After my training, I invited Marie (with whom I share an office) to a meeting and we explored much of the functionality. Marie took control of my desktop, we shared whiteboards, and we voted in polls about how hungry we were. It all seemed pretty useful, and Marie has thought about how MM will help her solve partner-college SAMIS problems remotely. I can see it being a useful tool, too.

Stepping outside MM for a couple of short paragraphs… 

As a control, we tested the smoothness of video and latency of video and audio content over Skype and noticed that Skype won hands down there, even when using my 1 MBPS connection. But of course Skype doesn’t have the full functionality of MM and is 1:1 rather than 1:many.

I have spoken about MM previously with friends elsewhere, and they’ve mentioned that DimDim sounds similar and has been useful for them.

We tested / demo’d the Megameeting software with Julie, Suki, Dom, Taliesin and Andy. I demo’d the use of the poll questions, the show desktop (powerpoint and web site), and the text chat. As the facilitator, all was OK except I need to work out how to save the poll questions. I exited the software and had to type them in again Also, the images for the whiteboard have to be in JPG format … the default saving for mine is PNG

The most important point to come out of the post session discussion was the issue of audio quality. Lots of people had quite poor quality. This might have nothing to do with the software, but more our indivdiual set ups and the way we used the software. Therefore, some tips (recommendations) are;

• if you are not talking then unlock your audio.
• therefore, if you want to talk use the text chat to indicate this (it would be really nice if they had a hands up symbol or if they do, it would be nice to find it), or the presenter needs to design in opportunities to talk.
• encourage people to test their audio set ups, and that people don’t have the mic volume to high.
• try to use a headset (mic and speakers) even when using a web cam, as this will reduce exernal noise

Other comments that need further investigation include how the presenter could ensure that their powerpoints display so no scrolling is required.

A couple of things which I remembered after the session was to include the slide / image which outlined how the session would run and expectations. This might allow use to mention about the audio set up and how to raise your hand.

Any thoughts, comments from the other participants?