Classroom technology

Every instructor should have an appropriate key to access the classroom AV technology for the classrooms in which they are teaching.

AV Cabinet keys are supplied to instructors by their own departmental offices. Classroom AV keys are as crucial to an instructor as their own office keys. It is imperative that instructors bring these keys to the room every time that they are instructing and that they lock up the AV cabinets when they are finished their lecture. 

Not all dongles are created equal. Dongles that work at home and in ones personal office may not necessarily work with UVic’s classroom equipment. It is a sound practice to purchase dongles that are built by recognized computer manufacturers as opposed to low-cost devices often found online.

Test your dongle in the specific classroom where you are teaching before relying on it in your first weeks of class. High quality dongles are available on campus from the UVic Computer Store.

Nearly every classroom on campus has been updated to use HDMI. However, with the rise of new slim laptops USB-C has become a common standard for external AV connection. Dongles are a necessity for those who have purchased a new laptop that does not have an HDMI port.

Many classrooms on campus still offer the older VGA standard connections. Though this connection may provide a way to link ones older laptop to the projector in the room, VGA on its own does not carry an audio signal and thus a 3.5mm cable (headphone jack) can be found beside any VGA connection in those classrooms that still support VGA, and both cables will need to be plugged into the laptop in order to play both audio and video within a room. 

New batteries are placed into classrooms on a twice-weekly basis. These AA batteries can be found inside the instructors cabinet taped together when they are new and older used batteries are typically deposited into used battery bins also found inside of the instructors cabinet.

If the lav mic fails to turn on after pressing and holding the power button located inside the small hatch on the belt pack – you may need to change the batteries. Please ensure that you remove the tape from the batteries before installing them.

Note: Do not adjust the settings on the lav mic, audio volume levels are already optimally set up – use the in-room computer to adjust audio levels.

Note: Lav mics will only work in the classroom that they are assigned to - so using one from another location will not work

If the belt pack appears to turn on but there is no amplification provided by the microphone – check for the following items:

1. Ensure that the small MUTE switch on the top of the belt pack is turned off. Toggle this small switch and then re-test the audio to determine if the lav mic is muted.
2. Check that the microphone is not muted on the touch panel controls or volume adjustment panel on the top of the instructor’s lectern. Ensure that the AV system in the room has been turned on by pressing the “Unlock” button located inside the instructor’s cabinet. There is also a “Mute” button on the lectern controls that may need to be pressed to disengage.
3. When using a lav mic with lecture capture software such as Echo360 – ensure that the audio input in Echo360 is correctly set to “Speakerphone”. If you do not wish to use the lav mic for your recordings then ensure that the audio input labeled “Microphone (Logitech Webcam C925e)” is selected in Echo360. Be conscious of the fact that the microphone on the webcam has a limited range and that you’ll need to stay within about three meters of the camera to be heard clearly.

If the coloured bars in the middle of the two displays in Echo360 are not moving when you are speaking or making sounds then you will need to change the audio input source from the drop down menu in Echo360. Failing that, a restart of both the computer and the AV system in the room may remedy any hardware issues that may be responsible for the problem.

Please ensure to turn off the mic when finished using to conserve the batteries.

Occasionally an instructor who has been previously teaching in a room may fail to log out of the computer correctly at the end of their class. This can cause issues with programs like Zoom and Echo360 where no inputs (webcams, microphones) can be found.

If you open Echo360 or Zoom and no microphone or camera can be selected from the input menus – immediately restart the computer and then try once again to log in. A restart will log out any other users that are signed in on that local machine that may be interfering with the webcam or other input devices.

At the end of your class please be sure to either “Log out” of Windows or simply restart the computer after each lecture in order to prepare the computer for the next instructor. Please do not simply “Lock” the computer or choose “Switch User” when you are finished in the room as this may impair incoming instructors behind you.

When plugging in a laptop to the HDMI or VGA connections in a classroom you may encounter an issue where you can clearly see your desktop background being projected but none of your typical icons or toolbars appear. Occasionally only a black screen may appear on the projector.

If you’re using a Windows laptop – press the Windows key next to the spacebar on your keyboard and then type “Display”. You should see an option populate – “Duplicate or Extend to a Connected Display”. Select that option and then in the resultant menu scroll down to find the “Multiple Displays” drop down menu. From there – ensure that the option of “Duplicate Displays” is selected.

If you’re on a Mac laptop – access the System Preferences menu and open the "Display" settings. Then under the "Arrangements" tab ensure that the “Mirror Displays” checkbox is checked.

It’s common for laptops to try to “extend” your desktop rather than “mirror” your screen which is not ideal for most instructors in the classroom. You may need to manually prompt the laptop to display an exact duplicate of your screen on the projectors in the room.