Online Classroom Upgrades

We have used the post-exam lull as an opportunity to make some upgrades to our teaching platform. After a few weeks of testing, we have implemented software upgrades on our Classroom servers which bring several new features and stability improvements for our Online Classrooms. Final rollout has occurred on Monday 29^th August.

Newly introduced features include:

• Improved video communications, with an optional low-latency mode
• Emote icons
• Polling options

Moreover, there have been some improvements in audio stability, and in the event of an audio loss, the client now automatically attempts to reconnect without the user having to log out and back in.

Finally, users now have the ability to connect to their classroom from mobile devices. There are two methods to connect via a mobile device:

• HTML5 Client
• Regular client (Flash) using the Puffin Browser

We have implemented a beta HTML5 client which runs without the need for Flash. This has been tested to work on Android mobiles and tablets, using both the Chrome and Firefox browsers. To access the HTML5 client, open up your classroom as usual, from the “My Classroom” link at the top of every page, using your mobile device. When entering the classroom, you will see a message informing you that Flash is needed. Tap on the “Launch the HTML5 Client Instead” button.

The HTML5 client will load on your mobile device. It contains the virtual whiteboard, chat feature, and audio. To enable audio, tap on the three dots menu in the top right, then Settings. Within the Settings, tap on the microphone icon, and follow any browser prompts to share microphone.

We hope you enjoy these new additions to the Classroom environment.