Helen
How to optimise your Virtual Classroom session
There are several strategies that can be adopted to get better performance and experience out of your Virtual Classroom. By taking certain precautions, we can increase the number of participants in a room, as well as improving the quality of the session.
1. Use Google Chrome browser
At the moment, the browser that best supports our Virtual Classroom is Chrome. This browser is best suited for so-called webRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), which is an important basic element of our application.
During a training session, the resolution of the videos that each participant sends changes, adapting to the number of participants. The quality changes as others join, so the load on bandwidth and CPU is minimised.
For example FireFox is not able to receive this information and adapt the resolution of the video it sends, so each connection made with this browser ends up overloading the whole call. Firefox is working to resolve this situation, but in the meantime, avoid using this browser to join the rooms.
Please do not use the old Microsoft Explorer browser anymore. This browser is outdated and does not include the required software to run our application.
2. Don't use a mobile phone
Our application is accessible by mobile phone and you will go in ‘Viewer Mode’. Due to the smaller screen, we had to limit a number of functions.
For example, you can’t see your fellow students. There is not enough space on the screen to show, besides from the trainer and presentation screens, the webcam footage of the other students.
3. Check your audio input
Check that your audio is not generating echo. A single person generating echo will end up disturbing the whole classroom. Set the audio input on your device to an optimal level to send the signal without amplification.
4. Use headphones
This minimizes the possibility of echo being generated in the room
5. Mute the microphone
If you are not speaking, keep your microphone off. This reduces noise and increases the overall quality of the session.
Please be aware that the trainer can also turn off your/all microphones.
6. Disable the camera
When your Wifi signal is limited or you have a bandwidth issue, it will help when you turn off your camera. In that way you can continue attending the session, but less data is sent, which will help the overall quality on your computer.
7. Change from Wifi to Ethernet cable
In some offices or homes, the wifi signals is limited due to various reasons. Or the computer is too far from the router. This could cause that some of the video streams are not properly transmitted to your computer and visible in the Virtual Classroom.
In that case, we advise people to use an Ethernet cable to connect to the internet router. This increases bandwidth dramatically.
This is especially important for Trainers, who are the managers of the Virtual Classroom and need to have the best experience in order to manage the session as good as possible.
Suggestions on further improvements, please let us know. We try improve the software and the User Experience continuously and any suggestions are very welcome.
