Guided Tour of an EchoCenter Page

Overview

Your EchoCenter page should look similar to the figure shown below. Each numbered item is described in the sections below.

ID Pane (1-3)

1. The class covered by this EchoCenter page. You may also see a notice of the next recording or live webcast, as shown below. A Join button appears shortly before the scheduled webcast time. See Live Webcasting for Students.

   

2. The Echo360 logo. Your school logo may appear on the left side of the window.
   

3. Link to online help.

Course Bookmarks Pane (4)

The pane:

• Shows any course notes (bookmarks) you added recently to any Echo in the class. To see the course notes (bookmarks) you added for a specific Echo, select the Echo and click the course notes (bookmarks) tab. See Course Notes (Bookmarks) Tab.
• Lets you jump to the course note (bookmark). Clicking on the course note (bookmark) opens the Echo at the relevant scene.

To make course notes (bookmarks) appear in this pane, add a bookmark to an Echo while you are watching it in the EchoPlayer. Click the Bookmarks button (shown below).

Bookmarks help you:

• Tag important parts of the Echo, allowing you to quickly navigate to a certain point
• Serve as brief course notes, offering an overview of what was covered in a particular lecture

You see only the bookmarks you added.

Recent Activity Pane (5)

This pane:

• Shows recent discussions that occurred in any Echo in the class. To see the discussions for a specific Echo, select the Echo and click the Discussions tab. See Discussions Tab.
• Lets you join the discussion. Clicking on the discussion link opens the Echo at the relevant scene.

Discussions appear in this pane, when you, the Instructor, or another class member adds a discussion topic while watching an Echo. Click the Discussions button (shown below).

Echoes List (6)

As the school year progresses, the list of Echoes can become long and unwieldy. The Available/Other and Most Recent/Least Recent drop-down lists help you organize the list of Echoes.

Select the Available option to see a list of Echoes that have been processed. Sort the list with the Most Recent/Least Recent drop-down list.

Select the Other option to see a list of:

• Echoes still being processed.
• Scheduled recordings.
• Echoes that are marked Not Available. If you are curious about an Echo marked Not Available, ask your Instructor or Teaching Assistant (TA). Echoes can be unavailable for a variety of reasons:
  
  • Your Instructor may have marked an Echo as unavailable while it is being reviewed or for another reason
  • A class meeting may not have been captured because of a power outage or other malfunction
    

An example of the Other list is shown below.

The Other list contains the following options and information:

1. Available/Other drop-down list. Allows for toggling between the Available Echoes and Other Echoes
2. Hide Unavailable/Show Unavailable drop-down list. This control shortens the list by hiding unavailable Echoes. Echoes can be unavailable for a variety of reasons:
   
   • The Instructor may have marked an Echo as unavailable
   • A class meeting may not have been captured because of a power outage or other malfunction
3. The number of Echoes in the list.
4. The status of any Echoes listed. This may show that the Echo is being processed or that the class meeting was not captured. Most class meetings are captured and become available as Echoes, so it is helpful to see this case explicitly noted.

Individual Echo Listed (7)

Select an Echo in the list to reveal additional details about that specific Echo.

Launch Echo Button (8)

Click this button to launch the Echo.

Tabs Selection (9)

Select a specific Echo from the Course Echoes list, then select one of the tabs to get further details about the Echo.

Information Tab

The Information tab is shown below.

From this tab you can:

• See the date of the Echo
• See the Presenters for the Echo
• See the type of Echo (usually "Lecture")
• See the duration of the Echo
• Download Podcast or Vodcast versions
• Read a description of the Echo if your Instructor included one
• Access the Embed Code for the Echo. You can use this link, just like a YouTube link, to embed the Echo into a web page or share it via social media.

Discussions Tab

The Discussions tab is shown below.

From this tab, you can:

• See discussions that have occurred for the specific Echo.
• Join discussions. Click on the discussions link.

Course Bookmarks Tab

The Course Bookmarks tab is shown below.

From this tab you can:

• See the course notes (bookmarks) you have added in the Echo.
• Open the Echo at the bookmarked scene. Click on the course note (bookmark).

The date below the bookmark is the date you added the bookmark to the Echo. It is not the date of the class.

Preferences Button

When you click an Echo icon on the EchoCenter page, you want to jump right into the Echo. You don't want to be bothered with technical specifications. However, the EchoPlayer needs to know certain details in order to display the Echo in the best way for you.

Click the Preferences button to configure your preferred bandwidth and theme. These specifications will be used for every Echo you launch.

Follow these steps:

1. Click the Preferences button.

   

2. The Preferences dialog box appears as shown in the following figure.

   

3. The display name is the name other students and your Instructor see when you are chatting and asking questions in the EchoPlayer.  To change your display name, follow these steps:

   1. Click anywhere on the display name ("Thomas Skelding" in this example). The display name becomes an editable field as shown in the figure below.
      
   2. Edit the name. We recommend that you enter your actual name so other students and your Instructor can identify you.
   3. Click the check mark to save the edited name. Click the X to cancel any changes.
4. Select your preferred EchoPlayer theme.
   
   • The Dark and Light themes control the background of the Echo
   • The Screen Reader theme is optimized for the visually-impaired

5. Select your preferred connection speed. The connection speed that can be supported depends on the quality of your network. We recommend choosing the default, Auto-Select.

   Theme and Connection Settings Affect the EchoPlayer not the EchoCenter

   The theme and connections settings affect the appearance and performance of the EchoPlayer but have no effect on the EchoCenter.

6. Move your cursor away from the dialog box. The box disappears. Your changes have been saved.

Seeing Lecture Tools Materials in EchoPlayer

If your instructor has created a poll or quiz in Lecture Tools and is using them during class, you will see a Polling button in the Tools pane of the EchoPlayer.

If you click the Polling button, you will see the question or topic for which the instructor requires a response. For Live webcasts, these will likely be shown individually as the topic is discussed. Using the response buttons or text field provided, you can return an answer that the instructor will see in Lecture Tools. An example is shown in the below figure.

If the instructor includes polling questions with an Echo (a previously recorded class) or with a Personal Capture presentation, you will see all of the questions at once, in the Polling list, instead of one at a time in the context of the portion of the lecture to which each applies. Your instructor may provide further information for using these types of polls or questions.

If you need to access Lecture Tools for any reason, click the View Course Tools link on the EchoCenter page, shown in the below figure. You can ignore this button if you are not familiar with Lecture Tools and are not directly instructed to use it.

If you are accessing Lecture Tools for the first time, you may be prompted to configure a password for Lecture Tools.

If you need assistance in using Lecture Tools, or you are not seeing the access button or other items described here, please discuss this with your instructor or contact your institution's help desk for assistance.

If You Don't See the Course Notes or Recent Activity Panes

When the EchoSystem is not configured to authenticate users, you still see an EchoCenter page, but it is missing the Course Bookmarks and Discussions panes. It looks similar to the figure below:

If your EchoCenter page looks like this, take a screenshot and show it to your Instructor or Teaching Assistant. The System Administrator may be able to make adjustments so you can see the missing panes.