Using the Polycom Video Conferencing System Instructions for equipment operation, basic troubleshooting, and pedagogical best practices.

Transcription

1 Using the Polycom Video Conferencing System Instructions for equipment operation, basic troubleshooting, and pedagogical best practices. Prepared by the Center for Teaching Excellence July, 2015

2 Contents Turning on the Equipment... 3 Making a Call (Joining a Meeting)... 3 Manual Calls (Using the Keypad)... 4 Manually Dialing the Conference Bridge... 4 Manually Dialing Point to Point Sites... 4 Volume Controls... 5 Camera Controls... 5 Find my IP Address... 6 Content Sharing... 6 Using a PC... 6 Using a USB Thumb Drive... 7 Troubleshooting... 9 Teaching with Polycom P a g e

3 Turning on the Equipment The Polycom system should remain on at all times. Use the Vizio remote to power on the TVs by pressing the power button located at the top right. Make sure the volume on the TV is set to a level of 40. Adjust the volume if needed. *The remote will control both of the TVs at the same time. Wake up the Polycom system by pressing the home button on the touch control panel or anywhere on the blank touch control screen. *The touch control panel will go in standby mode after a period of inactivity. This is the touch control home screen you should see when ready to make a call. Making a Call (Joining a Meeting) Dialing the conference bridge is the preferred call method. The easiest way to call the conference bridge is by using the Favorites button. Touch the Favorites button on the home screen. Select the entry for the Video Conferencing Bridge. 3 P a g e

4 The video conferencing bridge will join all participants in the call. Calling the bridge through the favorites menu automatically enters the meeting room and inputs the meeting code. If you call the bridge manually by dialing the IP address, you will have to enter this information. Manual Calls (Using the Keypad) Manually Dialing the Conference Bridge From the home screen, touch the Place a Call button. Use the touch pad to dial the IP address of the conference bridge, then press the Call button. When prompted for the meeting code, enter 1906 followed by the # key. *Conference Bridge IP address Manually Dialing Point to Point Sites From the home screen, touch the Place a Call button Use the touch pad to dial the IP address of the system at the farend* location. Listed below are the current IP addresses which are subject to change. Near-end = your current location Far-end = other locations Central Columbia North Augusta Greenville P a g e

5 Volume Controls The Volume controls can be used to mute or unmute your microphone and adjust the call volume. To adjust call volume, use the volume slider located under the mute button. To mute the microphone, touch the large gray mute button in the center of the screen. *The near-end microphone is responsive and does not require volume adjustment. When the microphone is muted, the button will turn red. Touch the same button again to unmute the microphone. Camera Controls While in a call, you can adjust the pan, tilt, and zoom of the near and far side cameras. From the call screen, touch the Cameras button at the top right Select Far or near at the top left to choose the camera. Use the arrows to adjust pan and tilt. Use the magnifying glass buttons to adjust zoom. 5 P a g e

6 *One of the camera presets might be set to meet your need. Touch the View Presets button located at the bottom middle to view the camera preset screen. *Adjustments to the far-end camera depend on who is speaking. It may be easier to have participants at each site adjust their own cameras. Find my IP Address When making a point-to-point call, you will need to know the IP address of the far-end system. It may be necessary to call or the participant at the far end to get the IP address from them. From the home screen, swipe right to the second page. Touch the System button. Select HDX System at the bottom right. Scroll down to find the IP Video Number. Content Sharing The Polycom touch control panel makes it easy to share content either through a PC or through the use of a USB thumb drive. Using a PC The Polycom system uses a stand-alone.exe installer to allow content sharing. Locate the USB cable attached to the touch control panel. Plug it into an available USB port on your computer. *If auto run is enabled on your PC, the system will automatically install the necessary file and you can skip to Part 2. If not, start with Part 1. 6 P a g e

7 Part 1 On your PC, navigate to My Computer to open the Windows file explorer. Locate the People + Content drive and double click on it. Within the drive, find the People + Content IP.exe installation file Double click the icon to run the installer file. Part 2 Once the installer file has completed, you should see the Polycom toolbar on your desktop. Click the play button to begin content sharing. Click the stop button to stop sharing content from your desktop. *You can use any number of preferred content delivery methods from your PC Including websites, PowerPoint, Smart Notebook, Active Inspire and many others. *The USB connection will not support the sharing of video content. Videos will need to be uploaded into Canvas or ed to participants ahead of time and viewed at each location. Using a USB Thumb Drive You can use the Polycom system to share PowerPoints and images from a USB thumb drive. *The system only supports PowerPoint file format. Newer PP files with the.pptx extension will not work. 7 P a g e

8 A USB port is located on the right hand side of the touch control desktop unit. Insert your thumb drive into the USB port making sure the drive is facing the right direction. From the call screen, select Show Content at the bottom middle. Touch the USB Drive button. Select the desired file from the list. Wait for the file to load. Touch the Show Content button. Use the arrows at the bottom to navigate through the slides. Touch the finger icon button at the top right to view the annotation tools. You can use your finger or a stylus to highlight or draw over your presentation. 8 P a g e

9 Always touch the eject button before removing the USB thumb drive. Wait to receive the safe to remove message. Touch OK and remove the drive. Troubleshooting *Below are some basic troubleshooting steps. If the problem is more advanced and cannot be resolved: 1. Seek help from the site assistant if available. 2. Call the IT Helpdesk. ( support available until 7pm) 3. Institute plan B (phone conference or alternate learning activities) and report issue to IT through isupport or phone call to system outage hotline. ( ) Issue o No Audio Possible Solution. o Check the volume levels on the Polycom and the TV. Make sure microphone at the near and far site are unmuted. o Participants hang up the call and reconnect to the conference bridge. Issue o No Video Possible Solution o Verify the TVs are on. o Participants hang up the call and redial the conference bridge. o Try a point-to-point call if only two sites are involved. o Move on to Plan B (phone conference or alternate instructor prepared activities). 9 P a g e

10 Teaching with Polycom A video or web conference systems is a great method for bringing local and distant participants together in real-time to provide virtual human interaction. CTE suggests the following best practices: Define goals and objectives for the meeting before the meeting starts. Use Canvas to support your teaching. Create a module for the video or web conference session. An efficient use of the time includes both lecture and engaging discussion. Since everyone had to schedule time to be there in person, involve everyone throughout the session. A video recording would be more effective for a lecture only session. Require everyone to speak at some point, use names, and include more presentations by students individually or in groups. Some tips to keep in mind when sharing your slides or presentation: Use a contrasting color for your font color, such as black lettering on a light-colored background and very large font size. Schedule some time to test the equipment and visuals out as well as time to practice in the video conference room before the first session. Plan for noise reduction. Determine how to structure when students are allowed to talk and share. During Sessions It is helpful if everyone in both sites knows who is who, introduce everyone. Learners will listen actively when they know they will soon be engaged in the content. Activities could include a debate or a role play. Consider breaking learners into groups of three at each site. It is best not to combine two people in different locations, or even one working online and one at a site. Design group activities around a challenging problem, case, or thought-provoking question connected to specific learning objectives of the course. Sharing your screen can be useful for providing examples and illustrations. Consider integrating Canvas discussion boards to have groups share in writing what they have come up with. Wrapping-up Summarize key points and activities completed during the session. Share notes of the meeting and all group findings to reflect what was covered and what is to be expected for future meetings in your course in Canvas. Encourage students to use Canvas to access slides and materials and to post questions about the video or web conference session. Other Helpful Tips Make eye contact with the camera (The camera is your class). Arrive early enough to class to get everything prepared and work out technical difficulties. Be creative in how you take advantage of the technology. Think of learning activities that would not be possible in an online format. Always have a backup plan in case of unexpected issues or difficulties. (i.e. phone conference, using Canvas to facilitate the class, group discussions, or independent learning activities.). It may be best to inform students of the backup plan ahead of time so they can remain on task if technical issues occur. 10 P a g e