Participant controls

Description

The participant controls menu allows you to control what individual participants or all participants can do in the room. You can turn participants’ camera and microphone on or off, as well as control their access to the chat, whiteboard, files, etc.

Location

The menu is located on the lower right corner of the virtual classroom where you can see the list of all participants currently in the room. You have two options to control the participant permissions – you can do it by changing settings for all participantsor by changing settings for an individual participant.

Virtual classroom: Control all participants menu

This menu gives teachers the option to control the settings for all participants currently in the virtual classroom.

Click on (Control all) to open the menu. The menu consists of Control all participantsand Individual Controls.

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The Control all controls affect all the participants in a certain group.

The (Tick) icon allows a particular permission for all participants.

The (Deny) icon stops a particular permission for all participants.

The Individual Controls affect only a particular participant.

The (Green Microphone) icon states that a particular permission is allowed.

The (Red Microphone) icon states that a particular permission is not allowed.

NOTE: Even if you change the permission for ALL participants, the next participant who enters the room will have the default permissions.

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Sound Controls

There are two types of controls – for speaking and listening. You can also find both types of controls in the Quick Controls in the Video mosaic.

Allow user’s voice  (Microphone) – this permission switches on/off the microphone. When switched off the participant is muted. To mute all participants at once, click the (Deny) icon.

Allow sound for the users  (Headphones) – this permission controls whether or not the participant can hear the others in the room. When stopped the participant can no longer hear the other participants in the room. He/she can still speak and be heard by the other participants. To mute all participants at once, click the (Deny) icon.

Whiteboard Controls

There are three controls for the whiteboard – for access, writing and for editing other participants’ elements.

Allow Whiteboard  (Eye Icon) – this permission hides/shows the whiteboard. When stopped the participant cannot see the content on the whiteboard, nor can he/she write or draw. To hide the whiteboard for all the participants at once, click (Deny).

Write on the Whiteboard  (Brush Icon) – this permission controls whether or not the participant can write on the whiteboard. When stopped the participant can see the content on the whiteboard but cannot interact, draw or write on it. To stop all participants from writing at once, click (Deny) .

Edit all Objects  – this permission controls whether or not the participant can edit other participants‘ elements on the whiteboard. When stopped the participant cannot edit other participants‘ elements on the whiteboard, write simultaneously in the text editor with other participants, or use the UNDO/REDO functions. To allow all participants at once, click (Tick) .

NOTE: Even if you change the permission for ALL participants, the next participant who enters the room will have the default permissions.

Presenter Controls

Presenter (Presenter) – this permission provides/takes away the ability to be a presenter in the room. This permission assigns a presenter role to a specific participant. As such he/she will be able to use the Synchronised mode, enter into Presentation mode, share YouTube and other media in the Media player, share files on the whiteboard, or create and edit whiteboard sheets.

Chat Controls

Allow Chat  (Eye Icon) – this permission hides/shows the chat. When stopped the participant cannot see the content in the chat box but can still write and send private messages. To hide the chat for all participants at once, click (Deny).

Write in the chat (Keyboard Icon) – this permission controls whether or not the participant can write in the chat. When stopped the participant can see the content in the chat box but cannot write in the Group chat. To stop all participants from writing at once, click (Deny) .

Personal Chat (Person) – this permission controls whether or not the participant can send private messages to other participants. When stopped the participant cannot send messages to the other participants but can still receive messages from them. This permission is global (works for all groups created in the room).

NOTE: Even if you change the permission for ALL participants, the next participant who enters the room will have the default permissions.

Individual Video Controls

There are two controls for the Individual video windows – to see individual video and to have individual video.

Individual video  (Eye Icon) – this permission shows/hides all individual videos and screen sharing for the participant. When stopped the participant cannot see individual video windows, e.g., the presenter’s video which is turned on by default. To hide the individual videos for all participants at once, click (Deny) .

Show Individual video  (Camera Icon) – this permission shows/hides the participant in an individual video window. By default all participants are shown in individual video when only the teacher and the participant are present in the room. This permission should be allowed when the participant wishes to share his/her screen.

NOTE: Even if you change the permission for ALL participants, the next participant who enters the room will have the default permissions.

Video Mosaic Controls

There are two controls for the Video mosaic – to see the Video mosaic and to be present in it.

Video mosaic  (Eye Icon) – this permission shows/hides the Video mosaic windows for the participant. It is stopped by default. When stopped the participant cannot see the other participants but they can still see him/her in the grid if he/she is allowed in. To hide the mosaic for all participants at once, click . This permission is global (works for all groups created in the room).

Be in the Video mosaic  (Camera Icon) – this permission shows/hides the participant in the Video mosaic. When stopped the participant is not shown in the grid. By default the presenter is hidden from the Video mosaic. When the internet connection is slow it is recommended to show the Presenter in the grid and stop his/her individual video. To forbid all participants from showing up in the Video mosaic at once, click (Deny) . This permission is local (works only in the current group).

NOTE: Even if you change the permission for ALL participants, the next participant who enters the room will have the default permissions.

Upload Box Controls

There are three controls for the Upload box – for access, downloading files and uploading files. These permissions are LOCAL.

See files in the Upload box  (Eye Icon) – this permission denies/allows access to the Upload box. When denied, the participant does not see the content in the upload box and cannot download files but can still upload files by dragging and dropping them into the box or by using the Select button to browse his/her computer for files. To stop access for all participants at once, click (Deny) .

Download files : (Downloading) – this permission denies/allows the participant to download the files in the Upload box. When stopped the participant cannot download files but can still see the file information. To stop all participants from downloading files at once, click (Deny) .

Upload Files  (Uploading) – this permission denies/allows the participant to upload files in the Upload box. When stopped the participant cannot upload files but can still download them and see the file information. By default this permission is stopped. To allow all participants to upload files at once, click (Tick) .

NOTE: Even if you change the permission for ALL participants, the next participant who enters the room will have the default permissions.

Virtual classroom: User Logs

The User Logs menu can be accessed through the icon located on the lower right side of the screen right next to the Control all menu button:

(Control all) (Statistics)

This will open the User Logs window which contains information regarding all the users who are in the room, as well as those attempting to enter it:

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You may find additional information on each participant entering the room, as well as their status, ID, connection and technical specifications, by clicking on the Info button on the right side of the log.

The Error indicator will let you know if the participants are experiencing any errors during the system check.

Clicking on the Additional info button allows you to see further information about the participant.

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Further details will appear as shown here:

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To refresh the logs and follow the login progress and status of your users in real time during each step of the system check, click on the button.

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Virtual classroom: Participant list

The participant list is located directly under the Control all participants menu on the lower right-hand side of the screen.

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The list displays all participants who have entered the room, as well as their current status in one of several ways:

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Expand/collapse participant list

The participant list is expanded by default but it can be collapsed using the triangle icon on its left side to improve visibility in the virtual classroom.

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Invite participants

The (Plus) icon located on the right side of the participant list allows you to invite participants to the session via email.
*Use this just in case the student could not join the classroom using the usual methods and have requested that you invite them via a different email address.*

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Once clicked, the icon opens a new window allowing you to enter the email address(es) of the participant(s) you would like to invite to the session. They will receive an invitation with an access link within several seconds.

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Virtual classroom: Participant list controls

You have access to the same participant controls as in the Control all menu through the Participant list control menu. The difference is that, unlike with the Control all menu, any changes you make here affect only the participant you selected. You can open that menu by clicking on the name of a particular participant in the list. Three unique functionalities are available through the Participant list – High video quality,which allows you to switch the participant’s video quality between high and low, Request user’s screen, which sends a request for screen-sharing, and Ban participant, which immediately bans the participant from the room. Only the teacher can use these controls.

High video quality

This control is useful if a participant is experiencing connectivity issues. The video quality is High by default, but you can switch it to low (un-check the box) in order to reduce the load on the participant’s connection.

NOTE: If a participant loses connection and then re-enters the room at any point during the session the system check will automatically switch this setting to Low.

Request user’s screen

Sends a request for screen sharing with this participant. Once requested the participant can share his/her screen if:

  • He/she has installed the Screen Sharing Extension (Google Chrome only) – see the screen sharing section here for further details on how to install it.
  • The presenter has allowed the individual video of this participant. (The Show user permission is allowed. See Control all -> Individual video controls.)
  • Both the teacher and the participant can stop the screen sharing at any time.

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Ban participant

Bans the participant from the room.

The following window will appear prompting for confirmation:

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Once you click on (Yes) the participant will be logged out and a notification of the action will be shown in the notifications list. Participants whom you have banned will see the following screen:

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Unban participant

Once you have banned a participant you can unban them from the User Log menu on the lower right, next to the Control all participants menu:

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The User Log menu will open up showing you the list of all the participants in the virtual classroom. The banned participant will have a ban symbol next to their name:

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If you have many participants it may be useful to click on banned users in order to see only the banned participants in the session. If you hover over the ban symbol with your mouse your cursor will turn into a hand and you can see a tooltip saying that you can click on the symbol in order to remove the ban:

Once you have clicked on it you will remove the ban and the participant and can re-enter the virtual classroom. If he/she still appears on the ban screen after you have unbanned him/her then he/she will first need to refresh his/her screens in order to enter the virtual classroom.

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