ClassVR 2.0 Updates

We’re releasing some great new features for ClassVR to make it even easier to use in the classroom. Read our overview for a quick update on the new features or click on the video below and let our Education Specialist, Hannah, take you through each point.

ClassVR-2-Plan-cropped

LIBRARIES

You’ll notice a few changes to the Libraries pane in the Plan area of the Portal.

We’ve grouped the different Libraries to make it easier to find what you need: there are three levels, Personal, Shared and Global. Each user now has their own personal My Cloud area, in addition to the ClassCloud area.

We had a number of requests from teachers who wanted to share Playlists within their school, but didn’t want them to appear in the Community Library. It’s now really easy to do that; just right-click on a Playlist you’ve saved in My Playlists.

If you click Share without adding a description, it’ll be shared to your organization’s Shared Playlists Library.

If you would like to also submit it to Community, just add a description; we’ll get the message and review it for publishing!

The final section in Libraries is Subscriptions. We’ve added a quick link here to the Avantis Lesson Plans page where you can view and download VR lesson plans and AR worksheets. Keep an eye out – we’ll be making this area easier to search and use very soon.

VIDEO PLAYBACK

The biggest and most important improvement is better support for 360 videos, particularly when it comes to controlling them from the Portal.

You can now preview videos in the Deliver area, just like you can with images – and all the usual functionality like clicking to create a Point of Interest (POI) in the headsets is also supported. Students can even tilt their head to pan round in a video.

Controlling video playback in the headsets is also much easier with our updated features. When you’re playing a video from the Portal, all the selected headsets are synchronized with you. Pause or resume your preview, or scan to a certain point, and your students will stay in sync.

The speakers on individual headsets are now muted automatically when playing video in teacher-led mode, so you can turn up the sound on your PC speakers to create a truly immersive experience. If you’d rather use headphones, just use the button at the bottom of the Devices pane to turn the headset sound back on.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

We’ve also made a few tweaks to the Deliver area of the ClassVR Portal to make it more user-friendly.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Devices pane on the right looks a little different when you first launch the Portal – your headsets are greyed-out and you’ll see a lock icon.

This means you can browse through the contents of your Playlist without sending it to the headsets automatically. This feature is particularly useful with the new video preview function; you can watch a video in the preview area to check its suitability without starting a download on all your headsets.

When you’re ready to begin controlling the headsets, just click on the Devices pane to remove the lock.

We’ve also released another new feature to make classroom management easier: the waiting room. Clicking the hourglass icon at the bottom of the Playlist pane automatically sends students to a grey ‘room’ where they’re awaiting instruction. This is particularly helpful when waiting for all students to be ready to get started, or as a signal that students should remove their headsets and focus on the teacher.

You’ll notice another new button near this one; the arrow downloads and queues the next track, which can be really helpful if you’re sending new or large files to the headsets.

There are also a few new device management functions that are available to Admin users by clicking the cog at the bottom of the Devices pane. If you’re an Admin you can send a command to all connected devices to shut down or reboot.

ClassVR-2-Deliver-locked-cropped

HEADSET UPDATES

Finally, there are some changes to the headset software. These additional controls are great when students are watching video independently.

  • Click the action button to zoom (marked with a dot or an M)
  • Tilt head to rotate
  • Tap capacitive pad to pause and resume
  • Swipe capacitive pad left to jump 10 seconds back
  • Swipe capacitive pad right to jump 30 seconds forward
  • Swipe capacitive pad down to restart video
pad-buttons

HOW DO I GET THE UPDATES?

Don’t worry, all these updates happen automatically. As of Friday 23rd February 2018, when you login to the portal, your new features will have already updated.

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