Desktop Conferencing

I’ve now used Megameeting for two 1-2-1 meetings with Mark Russell from the University of Hertfordshire. Audio and video quality have been absolutely fine both times and we’ve used the Share My Desktop function in order to collaborate on Powerpoint and Word documents. However, this has taken the form of us discussing what to do and then me doing it; no funky power-sharing antics!

During the second meeting, Mark was suddenly ‘booted off’ after about 45 minutes. He tried to get back into the meeting several times but we ended up finishing off the meeting through Skype. At first I thought I must have mistakenly set a finish time for the meeting but setting the finish time doesn’t appear to be an option! So I’m not sure what happened there…?

Yesterday we tested MegaMeeting with up to 8 video feeds and up to 9 audio feeds, some of which were of MegaMeeting staff, one of whom was in Los Angeles. This was to see whether we could replicate some of the flakiness we’d experienced in real meetings, and to ask them a question about tests we’d done with viewing Flash-based video feeds without problems straight after a problematic meeting.

The test went fine. Video and audio were smooth, both across our network and on wireless connections, and with (almost) all audio feeds locked on. As Geraldine pointed out, it’s the Easter break for students, so our network isn’t under the pressure it may well have been a few weeks ago – and so it will be good to repeat this test when these normal conditions are reached again. There was no direct answer to our specific question, so ongoing monitoring is required. We were told that an upgrade to MegaMeeting had recently been rolled out.

It would be reassuring to be able to guarantee that MegaMeeting will work fine for whoever wants to use it. We may well be on our way to achieving this reassurance.

Since my previous post, I’ve had ‘host’ training from Carrie and a support call from James at Megameeting.

In theory (and in practice with other customers), the system should easily be able to handle the number of participants we tried to throw at it, all with simultaneous video feeds, so we discussed issues around:

• our equipment setup (confirmed ok for at least some participants e.g. me)
• available network bandwidth (again, should have been fine for at least most people)
• possible issues their end (nothing he’s aware of, but will check with the relevant peeps at MM)

I just attended a QR codes Megameeting session (very interesting!), which had poor audio quality at the start (long periods where I and others couldn’t hear people, frequent audio break-up, webcam feeds freezing).

These largely seemed to disappear when we reduced the number of video feeds (via ‘Turn Video Off’ in the bottom-left corner of the screen). As they crept back up, so audio deteriorated again (for me at least). The critical breakpoint on this occasion seemed to be more than 4 simultaneous feeds (this could probably do more conclusive testing though!)

So, from this experience a pre-emptive solution seems to be that everyone has their video turned off except when talking. Assuming that people have got audio turned off as well (so speak via ‘push to talk’ or ‘lock’), it’s a slight pain as there are two things to click on/off at the start/finsish.

I suspect that a useful strategy for future meetings would be to have a maximum of 2 (e.g. Chair and whoever’s currently speaking) active video windows at once. I’ve got Megameeting training with James this afternoon so will pass this experience on and find out if it’s a common issue/there was something happening their end etc…

As the previous post (thanks Joe) indicated I ran the WEETHE Occasional Online Seminar today using Megameeting. This is a regional group of e-learning Teams in the West (South West) of England. We had representatives from Bath, Bristol, Exeter, and Gloucestershire. The session included two presentations, one by Hilary Griffiths (Bristol) who discussed the outcomes of user requirements for an online submission system, and Andy Ramsden (Bath) on an Introduction to QR Codes.

In this posting I’d like to focus on the technology and approach, and not the content (which I must say was excellent).

There was a number of lessons to learn to improve the session, and an anxiety about the software. My main concern was that for some people the audio was poor or dropped out. However, there didn’t appear to be a pattern. In one case they tested the audio using the wizard, then accessed the room and their audio stopped working ! While Hilary was presenting, I asked a question which she answered. All heard but me !! I think we need to look into this, and have some strategy to deal with this during a session. I felt slightly powerless as the only advice I could give was log out and in again (it did work, but it felt rather a dramatic approach). So I’ll be seeking advice from Megameeting.

Something I was very pleased was the way that Hilary logged in, and ran her session. She had no prep. It is this ad hoc presentational style that I’m keen to encourage and hoped the software would offer compared to some other systems.

In terms of managing the session I think we need to use a second person (as discussed post session with members of the team). This person could take responsibility to help others in terms of technical support. I’d not argue that this person is essential or needs to be from the e-learning team. It could simply be a more experienced person on the softare tool. This person could also help the presenter in terms of monitoring the back channel of the chat box. A real problem I had was when I shared my desktop (settings outlined in a previous posting) I couldn’t monitor the chat room. This is very annoying, I think I must be missing something !! Another reason to dust of the manual

So many lessons learnt. I’ve another session with 6 UK HE / FE institutes on Thursday. So I’ll try to implement a few of these ideas.

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?