What is videoconferencing and how can I use it in my classroom?
Videoconferencing is like interactive TV. You can connect 2 or more sites with live audio and video. Videoconferencing is a terrific way to add value to the classroom while stretching your educational dollars. Some applications include:

Student interaction outside the classroom without leaving your "four walls":

• Virtual Field Trips
  
• Career Exploration
  
• Expert Speakers
  
• Interaction with other classrooms (compare/contrast/compete)
  

Instructor Sharing

• Share experiences
  
• Professional Development

Expanded curriculum offerings for students

Increase enrollment in "specialty courses"

Over the past several years, RIDE funded Working Wonders grants to place IP videoconferencing equipment in RI schools and districts.

• There are currently nearly 40 connection points on the RI K-12 Videoconferencing network
  and it continues to grow.
  
• Video-over-IP (also known as H.323, IP- or TCP/IP-based videoconferencing) connects over your Internet connection. The advantage is that you can plug into any Internet port and there are no per minute charges associated with a standard videoconference.
  
• The best quality connections will be within RINET network, to OSHEAN members (e.g., URI and Brown University), and to other Internet 2 locations because we have implemented Quality of Service throughout these networks. If you would like to connect to a site over the commercial Internet, contact Pam Christman at RINET to discuss probable service degradation and ways to avoid and/or minimize problems.

• A LAN connection
  
• A TV or Monitor
  
• The Polycom FX and all it's components
  
• Power
  

Set the Polycom unit (ViewStateion FX) camera pointing toward the "subject". You can place the unit on top of the television monitor. Make the following required connections as shown



Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams

1) Use Orange cable to connect Orange LAN port on FX to LAN port (in wall)

2) Use thin microphone cable to connect the first microphone to the microphone port on the FX. A second microphone may be connected to the first microphone, if desired. The microphones should be placed close to the users. DO NOT PLACE THE MICROPHONES CLOSE TO EACH OTHER, OR CLOSE TO THE POLYCOM UNIT OR CLOSE TO ROOM NOISE.

3) Connect the TV/Monitor to the Polycom unit FX using the S-video cable (see diagram for FX ports). Additional equipment: ie. camera, monitor, VCR player, DVD Player may be connected to the other ports on the back of the Polycom. (See CD User guide for more information).

4) Connect Powersupply

5) Turn Power on to all equipment.

6) Make sure there are (good) batteries in the Polycom remote control.

Follow the on-screen set-up instructions. Click Here for Recommended Settings

Using The Remote Control

The Polycom is controlled via a supplied remote control device:

Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams

1. CALL-HANGUP	Place and disconnect calls
2. FAR CAMERA	Select the far site camera
3. SLIDES	Show a presentation
4. SELECT	Select items and advance/reverse slides
5. VOLUME	Controls volume of Polycom
6. MUTE	Prevent the far site from hearing the near site or vice versa
7. INFO	Get help
8. MENU	Brings you to Main Menu, Return to previous screen
9. ZOOM	Zoom in or out on an image
10. SNAPSHOT	Take snapshots of a meeting
11. DIRECTIONAL ARROW	Move around menus and adjust camera
12. AUTO	Select auto voice-tracking camera or track to presets
13. NEAR CAMERA	Select the near site camera
14. NUMERIC KEYPAD	Enter vide numbers. Use right arrow for dot (.)

Note: Use TV remote to set TV volume.

On-screen Help

The Polycom has built-in on screen help for the following topics:

• Navigation
• Video Call
• Connecting a PC
• PowerPoint
• Camera Selection
• Voice Tracking
• Camera Presets
• Touchtones
  

• Press MENU button, until you to get to the Polycom ViewStationFX Main Menu.
  
  
  
  Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams
  
  
• To make a Manual Video Call



Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams


• Highlight Video Call
• Press Green CALL/HANG-UP button (or SELECT button (maroon oval)
• Enter IP address for far site (use the right arrow to enter the "dot" in the IP address)
• Adjust the speed as necessary (768 is recommended)
• Press the green CALL/HANG-UP button to initiate call (or SELECT button (maroon oval)



• To make a Speed Dial call (the last six calls are automatically stored in Speed Dial)

Speed Dial can be accessed in several ways.

1. Selecting Video Call. Arrow down to Speed Dial
2. Selecting Speed Dial (lower right corner) from Main Menu (some versions)
3. Selecting Address Book (lower left cornet) from Main Menu
4. If you know the number of the Speed Dial Entry, you can press the corresponding number on the remote control while in the Main Menu Screen.
   The first time you press the number will take you to the Speed Dial screen. The second time you press the number it will dial that entry.





Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams


• highlight the speed dial location you want to call (using arrow keys)
• press SELECT button
  
  
You can lock a speed dial entry so that it always appears on the Speed Dial screen. This is useful for numbers you dial frequently. To lock the number, highlight the entry on the Speed Dial screen and press the "#" button on the remote control.

A Lock icon appears next to speed dial entries that are locked.
To unlock a number, highlight the entry and press the "*" button on the remote control.



• To make a call using the Address Book

Address Book can be accessed in several ways.

1. Selecting Video Call. Arrow down to Address Book
2. Selecting Address Book (lower right corner) from Main Menu (some versions)
3. Highlight Address Book (lower left corner) from Main Menu. (some versions) Press SELECT button twice





Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams



• Select desired entry (using arrow keys)
• Press SELECT button
  
  You can quickly and easily jump to any area of the address book like you would in the address book of your cell phone.
  For example, if you want to go to the "P" section of the address book, you can press the number "7" on the remote control to jump to those entries.

  If you want to jump to the "R" section of the address book, you can press the "7" three times.
  




Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams·



• Connecting
  • Watch the "ball" icon in the lower left corner of the screen
  • Viewing your own site, you will hear a simulated ringing sound
  • The ball icon will turn to green when the call connects and display the far end site, far end name and the connect speed
  • If the call fails, check to make sure you have the right IP address and that the far end is turned on and ready to accept your call. If problems persist, consult the troubleshooting guide.

Note: actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagram

• During call, press Green CALL HANG-UP button,
• Using the arrow buttons highlight Disconnect Call, press SELECT button
• After ending a call you initiated, you may select "Yes" to add the IP to your address book

• Your Polycom unit should be set to auto-answer by default. See Recommended Settings
  • If the Polycom is not set to auto answer, you will hear a simulated ring tone and be prompted to accept the call (using your remote)

• Adjusting the sound
  • Adjust Volume button on the Remote and on the TV monitor
• Select the Video Source
  • Main Camera
  • Document Camera
  • VCR/DVD Player
  • Computer
• Adjusting the Main camera
  • Press NEAR for local camera, FAR for remote camera (only on point to point call)
    • Manually Zoom and move directional/arrow buttons, as desired
    • Using Camera Presets:
      • Setting: Zoom/move camera, press SELECT button, press a number 0-9 to enter preset.
      • Accessing: During videoconference, press NEAR button, then press preset number 0-9
    • Voice Tracking - camera automatically moves to talking person
      • Press NEAR (or FAR) button,
      • then press AUTO, the button toggles 3 ways
      • Auto track (voice only), Auto track to presets (based on voice), Manual
  • Sending a Snapshot
    • Press the Snapshot button
    • Select the video Source
    • Preview the Snapshot
    • Press the Snapshot button to send snapshot
    • Press Snapshot again to view live video

• At Main Menu, select Address Book.
• Work with New, Edit, and Delete using the on-screen keyboard.
  
  
  Note: Actual unit/screens may differ slightly from diagrams
  Note: Multi-point Address Book entry option (One entry for recurring conference)
  
  OR
  
  
• Make a video conferencing call using the far site's IP address.
• After ending the call, select Yes when asked "Add to address book?"
  

You may connect up to 4 sites (including your own).
If no call is in progress

• Select Video Call
• Select Multipoint
• Select sites to dial from the Address Book or enter them manually
• OR select a multipoint call entry from the address book
  
  OR
  
  If a call is already in progress
• Select Video Call
• Select Add a video call
• Enter the number

• Point-to-point calls can run at 768, but multi-point calls must run at slower speeds.
• 3 sites require dropping the speed to 512
• 4 sites require dropping the speed to 384.
  The quality of the videconference will decrease as the speed decreases.

• At Main Menu, highlight System Info and select:.
  • User Set-up,then
  • Admin Set-up
    • See Recommended Settings
    
    OR
    
    
• At Main Menu, highlight System Info and select
• Diagnostics, then
• Advanced Stats

A table will appear with the statistics of the connection. Tx column tells how you are tranmitting data and the Rx colum tells how you are receiving the data.

For a good connection at 768K, the following results should appear.

If your statistics are similar to above, you should be experiencing a good videoconference and connection. If you are experiencing, high packet loss and jitter, please contact your Technical Support for help.

For more detailed information, consult your user guide (CD shipped with Polycom Unit) or visit www.polycom.com, select support, select how-to, select video how to.

Connecting a VCR to your Polycom

You can connect a VCR to your polycom to record a videoconference or to broadcast a videotape during an event. A VCR that is in the TV will only record local video, it will not record both sides of the conference. If you want to record both sides, you will need an external VCR.

Recording a Videoconference
You will need a RCA cable (yellow, red & white). Connect the RCA Cable to the Video Out (bottom row - arrow pointing out) of the Polycom and Video In of the VCR. You may need to set the Input Mode to indicate if the audio/video input connectors are connected to the front panel or the rear panel. Each VCR is different so you will need to review your VCR User Manual.

Broadcast a Videotape during a Videoconference
You will need a RCA cable (yellow, red & white). Connect the RCA Cable to the Video In (top row - arrow pointing in) of the polycom unit and Video Out of the VCR.

On the Polycom remote, press the Near button and a list of input devices will show up. Arrow over to the VCR symbol and press Enter. All of the participants will be watching the video at this point. Do not forget to change the input device back when the video is over to continue the videoconference.

Remote Management/Web Interface

• To access the Polycom via a Web browser (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer)
• Open a Web browser on any PC on the network and visit the IP address of the Polycom.

• To connect more than 4 sites you must use a videoconferencing bridge.
• To connect sites with non-Polycom conferencing equipment, you may need to use a videoconferencing bridge.
• RINET can help you access the RIDE bridge and the Internet2 Commons bridge.

• For a complete, up-to-date information of K-12 videoconferencing in Rhode Island, visit the other links in the Videoconferencing section of the RINET web site.
  
  
• To participate in e-mail discussions regarding videoconferencing, join the e-mail list IVID-L@ride.ri.net by e-mailing Pam Christman.

• RINET Troubleshooting Guide
  
  
• Polycom CD - Chapter 12 -Troubleshooting