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In this course you will be working in teams, and your team members might not be able to meet with you in person. Although email, forums, and wikis can serve for much communication, there will be times when you need to talk “synchronously”
This is the first of two mandatory exercises to explore options in network conferencing.
You will need a PC with a good internet connection, a microphone, and headphones for this exercise.
When you use speakers, there is a significant chance of the sound from your speakers being picked up by your microphone and sent out to everyone in the conference. At best, this creates an unpleasant echo effect. At worst, it creates feedback making the audio useless for everyone.
Check your email. For this exercise, the instructor will have sent you an invitation to participate in a Hangouts meeting.
As an ODU student, you have a Google account for your @odu.edu email. This is what you must use to participate in all class-related meetings. Log into your ODU email to be sure that your browser is logged in under your ODU account rather than any personal GMail/Google account that you might also have.
In a separate tab/window, check your Google calendar. You should see the event listed there.
Links in the email and calendar entry will allow you to indicate whether you plan to attend. Click on one to indicate that you plan to attend.
Again, log into your ODU email to be sure that your browser is logged in under your ODU account rather than any personal GMail/Google account that you might also have.
Enter Hangouts by using the “Join meeting” link in the invitation email or in the calendar entry.
If this is your first time using Hangouts’ video conferencing, you will be prompted to load a browser plugin. If not, but all that you see is a large green “speech bubble” with quotations marks inside it, click on it and you may be prompted to install the browser plugin.
Wait for your group members to arrive.
While you wait for the instructor,
Note that each person has control over which person occupies the large central area of the call window on their own screen. Simply click on one of the thumbnail images at the bottom of the call to bring up that person. Try this a few times.
Move your mouse near the top edge of the window to see the control icons available to you.
Near the top you should see these controls to, from left to right, add more people to the call, mute or activate your microphone, turn your camera on and off, adjust bandwidth use, alter your settings (may be useful in selecting which microphone or audio device to use), and to leave the call.
Try these out. Note that etiquette in network conferences is to mute your microphone when you are not speaking. This reduces the amount of background noise that everyone must deal with. It also reduces the chances of echoing and feedback.
In very large conferences (more than a half dozen or so people), it’s also common to switch one’s video feed off when not speaking or actively engaged in the conversation. Turning you video back on is then a signal for attention, rather like raising your hand in class.
Move your mouse to the left edge of the window to see another list of controls.
This vertical list shows available plugins.
Of particular importance:
The 
chat icon opens up a text chat area. This is useful when someone’s microphone/speakers have failed or, more commonly, they forget to un-mute their microphone before speaking.
The 
control is for screen sharing.
Your instructor will join you briefly near the beginning of your scheduled session.
Practice screen sharing and get yourselves set up for next week’s session:
One by one, take turns doing the following:
Use the control to turn on screen sharing.
You will be given a choice of what to share: your entire screen or just selected windows.
If you are the first person to take a turn, share your entire screen.
If you are the second person to take a turn, share your web browser.
After the first two people have tried, the remainder may share either their entire screen or their web browser.
Ask your team-mates to describe to you what they see from your PC. In particular, can they read the text in your window(s)?
If you are sharing just your web browser window, try resizing the window at full-screen and to just half the screen height and width. Ask your teammates how this affects what they see.
Right-click on a line in your web-browser to bring up a pop-up menu. Tell your team-mates what you have done and ask them to again describe to you what they see from your PC.
Click on a menu in your web-browser to drop down a list of menu entries. Tell your team-mates what you have done and ask them to again describe to you what they see from your PC.
Navigate to your recitation section in Blackboard. In the “My Groups” area, you should see that you have been added to a “Hangouts…” group. Enter your group’s Discussion Board.
If you are the first person here, create a new thread titled “Counting Off”. Post your @odu.edu email address followed by the number “1”.
Each subsequent person should reply to that post, adding their ODU email address and a successively higher number (2, 3. …).
When all team members have observed one another go through this, you can leave the conference. You are done for this week.
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