Start a meeting
- Click the three dots icon below Actions and choose the right meeting.
- Click Launch.
You will be navigated to an overview page:
- Meeting Lobby Page: information about the meeting (moderator, time and date).
- Virtual Classroom Help: some general tips.
- Just above Join you can see when the meeting starts. You cannot open the meeting room earlier than 10 minutes before the start time.
The lecturer can access the meeting ten minutes in advance. This way you have time to set up your presentation before the students arrive.
Participants cannot open the meeting room before the lecturer/moderator has opened the room and started the meeting.
- When you open the meeting room, decide whether you want to opt for the Microphone (you can speak) or for Listen Only (you can only listen). If you click the close button, the sound will be on and the microphone will be off.
- If you click Join using your phone you will receive information on how to join with your phone.
- Click the camera icon to turn on your webcam.
- You can then select a webcam. The quality will automatically be adjusted to the quality and speed of your internet connection. Then click Start Sharing.
Virtual Classroom supports up to 30 participant webcams at once. You will see 10 of them in your own screen (including yourself). When someone speaks they will automatically be moved to the section of the 10 visible webcams.
- Click on the pin icon to pin someone. The pinned person will remain on your screen.
By default the presentation will be shown large on the screen. The camera image will be above the presentation. You can also display the participants in a gallery view.
- Click the three dots icon on the top right.
- Choose Gallery to display 10 cameras. The presentation will then be displayed as the tenth small image.
- Three lecturers can also simultaneously choose for Gallery (large) and thus display 25 students in the screen. The presentation will then be displayed as the 26th small image.
- Choose Presentation to view the presentation as a large screen again.
Tools during a meeting
You can make use of a variety of tools during the meeting:
- Record the presentation / stop the recording;
- Upload and manage the presentation;
- Turn your microphone or webcam on or off;
- Share your screen;
- View and mute all participants;
- Chat;
- Start a poll;
- Create breakout rooms;
- Open annotation tools;
- Test the speed of your internet connection; fast (green), medium (orange) or slow (red);
- Change the settings for the meeting and leave or close the meeting.
If you did not select the automatic recording option, you will have to start the recording manually. You can start, stop and pause the recording at any moment.
It is important to notify your students when you record a meeting. Students can then choose to turn the webcam and microphone off, meaning they will not be in in the frame.
The presentation
You can display a presentation in the middle of your screen. You can draw on a blank screen and add text using the tools on the right side of the screen. You can also upload a file and add notes to the file. You can leaf through your presentation's slides at the bottom. This means you can create multiple slides with notes, and return to previous slides.
- You can use the microphone to provide comments during your presentation. You can also turn the microphone off (Mute).
- You can turn off both your microphone and incoming audio by clicking Leave Audio.
- If you want to use your webcam to appear on screen, click Share Camera.
Mute participants
- Click the icon to open the participants.
- Click Mute all. Your own microphone will also be silenced. Each participant can turn on their individual microphone by clicking the microphone icon (Unmute). If you do not want to allow students to turn on their microphone, click Permissions.
Especially when you have a meeting with many participants it is advised to mute all participants at the start of the meeting. This way they will not all speak simultaneously. You can ask participants to unmute themselves if they have a question and mute themselves if they merely want to listen.
Permissions
Below Participants you are also able to set up the Permissions of the participants. For example, you can determine that students cannot turn on their own microphone or webcam.
- Click Permissions.
- A window will open where you can indicate what possibilities students should have.
If you opt to deny students certain rights you can still choose to grant them these rights during the meeting. Go to Participants and click the name of the student. Then click Unlock. The student will now regain all options.
Annotation tools
On the right side of the screen you will find the option to add notes on the slides:
- Click the pencil sign to choose a tool:
Text: create a text box and type your text.
You have additional options for font size and colour.
Line: draw a line.
Ellipse: draw a circle.
Triangle: draw a triangle.
Rectangle: draw a rectangle.
Pencil: use the pencil to draw freely.
With Line, Ellipse, Triangle, Rectangle and Pencil you have additional options for size and colour.
Pointer: a red dot with which you can point out certain elements on the screen to direct attention to them. - Click the arrow to undo your last note.
- Click the cross to delete all of your notes.
- Click the screen icon to enable the multi-user tool. Participants are now able to make notes as well. Click on the icon again to disable the tool. Note: we advise against using this tool with too large of a group to avoid a lot of people drawing through each other's work.
Presenting a file
You can add a file to your presentation, like a PDF, Word, PowerPoint, or Excel file. Each page, slide, or tab will be one slide in your presentation.
- Click Presentations.
- Select a file from your computer to upload.
- Select a previously uploaded file to present.
- Switch to an empty presentation, possibly one with previous notes.
- Delete an uplpaded file or a file you want to upload.
- Click Start to present the selected file.
When you upload a PowerPoint file the animations in your file will be lost. All elements of your dia will be shown simultaneously.
Graphs in Excel are not supported.
If you have used special fonts they might not be displayed correctly.
Share screen
- To share your screen you click Share your screen at the bottom.
A new window will open. Here, you can choose which part of your screen you want to share:
- Your full screen: If you want to share your full screen you can choose which one (if you have connected multiple screens).
- App window: When you want to share an application you have opened (such as a Word file or an Excel file) you can select which window you want to share.
- Chrome tab: when you want to share an opened tab in your browser, select which tab.
- Select the desired screen and click Share.
When you want to share your screen for the first time you will receive an one-time notification stating that you have to install the Bongo Screenshare Extension .
Only Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium version) support screen share. Firefox only enables window share.
Participants
- To see which participants are present in your meeting, click on the user icon at the top left of your screen (Participants).
- At the top you will see who is currently presenting below Presenter.
- Below Participants you will find the other participants.
- At the top left of the screen you will see which participant is currently talking.
- Click on the name of the participant to:
- start a private chat;
- enable their microphone;
- allow them to present;
- remove them from the meeting;
- make them a moderator.
This means the participant will have the same rights as the lecturer; they can let other participants present, but they can also remove participants and erase the chat.
After you have removed a participant from the meeting, they can no longer access it. If the participant tries to reenter the meeting, a notification will appear about denied access. This does not apply for externals who have been removed from the meeting; you will not receive a notification if they return. Be careful when you delete participants!
Chat
There are two ways you can open the chat:
- Click the chat icon on the left side of the menu.
- Click on Public Chat in the Participants menu.
You have now entered the chat
- Below you can send a message to all participants.
- Click on the three dots icon to delete or save the chat.
Participants can also send private messages. When you have received a private message a red dot will appear below Participants > Messages.
Poll
You can create a poll which you can present to your participants during your presentation. You will have to ask the question verbally, and the participants can then choose from different answers that will appear on screen.
- Click Polling in the menu on the left.
- Then choose between default answer possibilities, or create your own answers by clicking Custom Poll.
- If you have set up the answer options the poll will start automatically. Click Stop/Publish Polling results to share the results with the participants. Click Stop Polling to stop the poll without sharing the results.
Settings for the meeting
Click the three dots icon at the top right of your screen to access more options for your meeting. Use Settings to change the settings for your meeting.
- Application: choose whether or not you want to receive notifications if there is activity in the chat and adjust the font size.
- Data Savings: decide if you want to allow sharing webcams and screens (by turning off this option whenever you do not need it, you will prevent the network from overloading).
- Click Save to save the settings and return to your meeting.
End the meeting
- When you want to end the meeting you click the three dots icon at the top right and then select End Meeting. The meeting will be terminated for all participant and cannot be restarted. If you made a recording a file will be created.
- You can also opt to leave the meeting (temporarily), for example to change your microphone settings. The meeting will remain open for the other participants. You can then rejoin the meeting whenever you desire.
Do you need help with your Virtual Classroom? Please contact Brightspace support.