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Setting up and Using the Owl Meeting Pro

Kyle Vitale
  • Updated

OVERIVEW

For scenarios where a student or teacher joins the class remotely, the Owl Meeting Pro, along with a laptop on Zoom, works well to integrate the student(s) or teacher(s) as best as possible. In this scenario, the Owl acts as a speaker, microphone, and webcam instead of same components in the laptop. The main reason for this is due to the fact that the Owl has much stronger versions of both speakers and microphones, allowing more people to be heard by the remote student or teacher.

 

QUICKSTART (TL;DR)

  1. Plug the Owl into a power outlet and into your computer.
  2. Turn on the classroom projector
  3. Turn on the apple TV and Airplay to the room's projector
  4. Start Zoom on your computer
  5. Change Zoom to use the Owl as the mic, speaker, and camera.
  6. Disable self-view and use gallery view

 

PROCEDURE

Here is the full procedure.

 

STEP 1: Setting up the OWL

  1. Make sure the OWL is plugged into a power outlet (either into a power strip or directly into a wall outlet).

  2. Make sure one end of the USB cord is plugged into the bottom of the OWL and the other end into the classroom computer.

  3. There is a mute button on the OWL itself along the bottom. If the OWL is muted, a red light will appear.

  4. Press the + or - buttons on the OWL to raise or lower he volume

 

STEP 2: Turn on the Projector

  1. There are three ways to turn on the projector: 

    • Using the power button the white remote control 

    • Using the power button on the projector itself (you may need a chair to reach it)

    • Using the control pad next to the whiteboard

  2. The projector will beep once when it starts turning on

  3. It takes 15-30 seconds for the projector to turn on

 

STEP 3: Turn on the Apple TV

  1. The Apple TV is a small black box that sits on top of the projector.

  2. To turn it on, aim the remote at the Apple TV and press the menu button. 

  3. You may need to stand a few feet back so that the remote can "see" the Apple TV. Just like a TV remote.

  4. You can see a small white light on the Apple TV when it is turned on.

 

STEP 4: Starting Zoom

  1. Join the Zoom Meeting.

 

STEP 5: Configuring Zoom to use the OWL

Zoom needs to be configured to use the OWL as the microphone, speaker, and camera. You should have to do this only the first time you connect a computer to the OWL.

  1. Once you have joined the Zoom meeting, click on the ^ next to the Mute button in the lower left.

    • Choose the OWL Meeting Pro for the Speaker & the microphone

  2. Next, click on the ^ next to the Video button 

    • Choose the OWL Meeting Pro for the camera

TIP: If you do not see the OWL listed in these sections, repeat step 1 above (make sure OWL is powered on and the USB cable is plugged into both the classroom computer and the OWL itself.

 

STEP 6: Hide Self View and set Gallery View in Zoom

Hiding self view is useful so that students in the classroom aren't distracted by themselves projected onto the whiteboard. To hide Self view:

  1. Hover over the upper right corner of OWL image in the Zoom call

  2. Click on the 3 dots menu, which is blue.

  3. Choose Hide Self View

Setting the Zoom call to use Gallery View makes it easer for everyone in the class to see all attendees joining remotely. To set gallery View:

  1. Click the view button in the upper right corner of the Zoom call.

  2. Click Gallery View.

 

Step 7: Project the Screen to the Whiteboard using AirPlay

This allows you to project the classroom laptop's screen onto the whiteboard.

  1. Click on the AirPlay icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

  2. Click on the room you are in, e.g. Library_212. If you don't see the room you are in, make sure the Apple TV is on back in step 3.

  3. If the image projected on the whiteboard isn't exactly what you see on the computer screen, click on the AirPlay icon again, and make sure "Mirror my display" is checked.

 

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