This article will walk you through creating a Livestream Studio setup for an Interactive Live Video Classroom for use with Remote Education plans and create a Studio Setup similar to shown below.
Diagram of how it works
Example of Livestream Studio Setup
StudioOne Setup
Open Livestream Studio and either start a new project or import your existing project. For this acticle we are using the following Project file "Live Video Classroom for Remote Education" which is attached for download at the bottom of this article.
To import the project file
Click on the project tab and select “Import”
Then select your Project file
Notes:
- This will provide you with a pre-configured template that will need very little customization
- You will need to add your cameras to this configuration using the “Add input” option. We cannot pre-configure this for you unfortunately.
- Take note of the camera inputs names and what each cameras function is (IE: Teacher camera = Input 1 / Whiteboard camera = Input 2) as you will need them for step 2
On the “Teacher Cuts” input tab you will see that there are two GFX setup already. You need to do the following on each GFX
Double click on the top most GFX, this is your “Teacher Camera” (the camera which will be on the teacher only for lessons from her desk or speaking standing up)
You will need to click on the small gear icon within this GFX and change the input to match the appropriate input from Step 1b
Repeat step 2a for the lower GFX under the “Teacher Cuts” tab.
On the “Laptop Application” tab repeat step 2a and this time assign the NDI input from the teacher laptop which we added below from the “Laptop Setup” section
Configure your NDI output from Livestream Studio under Settings > Output
Press the + under NDI Outputs to add your output as shown below. Where there could be multiple NDI feeds within one school building, we recommend changing the default name from StudioOne to something unique like Classroom Number or Teacher Name
Activate “Web Control” from LSS settings and input the users email address who will be controlling LSS (assuming this is the teachers email).
This email needs to be attached to a free Livestream account.Opening the provided link on the teachers laptop will grant them access to control Livestream Studio remotely.
Teacher Laptop Setup
This guide will show you the workflow using Skype or Google Meeting. Other paid applications which are not covered here are available for use and will function similarly
NDI Tools & Virtual Input Setup
Both options require the following steps
Download and install “NDI Tools for Windows”
Configure and run Virtual Input once installed.
Right click on the Virtual Input icon in the task bar and choose the NDI feed from your Livestream Studio output. This will be slightly different in all cases, but should be something similar to "StudioOne - Program"
- You can see below how the option "Program" matches the option chosen under Camera in the Livestream Studio Output Settings.
Skype
Example of Teacher View
The above photo is an example of the teachers view of the students from within Skype Meeting software. While this is mostly consistent across different meeting softwares , each may vary slightly
Start windows 10 and install “Skype Desktop for windows”
Open Skype and sign in once the install is finished.
You will need to create an account if you do not have one already.
Using the following guide, activate NDI in Skype and configured Virtual Input as described.
Create a meeting within Skype and copy the “Share link” to allow others to join.
To share your “application” to the skype meeting you have two options.
- Utilize the “share screen” option within Skype itself
- This allows you to share your entire screen, a portion, or a specific window/application to the meeting.
- Utilize NDI Tools Scan Convertor with the ROI feature as described here.
This will now share your application via NDI and allow you to pull it into the Livestream Studio application.
You can also remotely control Livestream Studio by opening the WebControl Link and logging in with your free Livestream User account.
Google Meet / G-Suite for Education
Learn more about G-Suite for Education - G-Suite for Education
Login with your Google Account and start meeting
Once you start your meeting, you need to set your Audio and Video sources up.
You will need to launch "Virtual Input" from NDI tools which was installed earlier.
Set your Audio to the following
Set your video to the following (Please note the maximum resolution for my camera is 720p, you should use at least 720p or 1080p if your network bandwidth allows for it)
Proceed to join meeting by clicking on "Join Now"
To share your “application” to the Google meeting you have two options.
- Utilize the “share screen” option within Google Meet itself
- This allows you to share your entire screen, a portion, or a specific window/application to the meeting.
- Utilize NDI Tools Scan Convertor with the ROI feature as described here.
This will now share your application via NDI and allow you to pull it into the Livestream Studio application.
You can also remotely control Livestream Studio by opening the WebControl Link and logging in with your free Livestream User account.
Remote Students Computer Access to Live Video Class
Student View
The above photo is an example of the Students view of the Teacher and remote education lesson from within Skype Meeting software. While this is mostly consistent across different meeting softwares , each may vary slightly
Each student would install the Skype meeting app browser extension to their computer browser for skype meeting or go to the Google Meeting link provided by the teacher.
The teacher would invite the students in her class before the class starts to attend the Livestream Studio Live video classroom meeting via Skype/Google from their remote home computer presumably at the beginning of each school day or setup a recurring classroom meeting schedule per the class schedule.
Scheduling a meeting is dependent on your particular email system, generally, to do this you would follow these steps if using Microsoft Outlook or Office 365.
- From the Home tab in Outlook, Select New Items→Meeting.
- A new window pops up with your untitled meeting.
- Enter the necessary information for the meeting (invitees, subject, location, date, time).
- Click the Send button to send the meeting invitation to the email address of all the students in the class.
Interactions between the Teacher and Student
- The teacher will be able to view the Students faces and check that they are paying attention via the grid view of the connected students.
Skype Preview
Google Meet Preview
- The teacher can control the Students speaking by muting and unmuting them as needed.
- Students are able to raise their hands on camera or speak up (type) in chat to get the teachers attention if muted.
- Skype Meeting allows you to additionally utilize a "thumbs up" emoticon which replaces the Students video indicating they'd like to get the teachers attention. This remains onscreen for 3seconds and can be utilized repeatedly as needed.
Notes
- For NDI to work all systems sending and receiving NDI must be on the same network
- Your Virtual Input in skype will appear mirrored on the laptop, this is only on your end, the connected guest will see a non-mirrored video. Where you are not using skype other than a “Host” this does not affect anything.
- Making Skype “full screen” on the second display will allow the teacher to see all the connected students on the widescreen.
- Running application switching and WebControl on the laptop worked best in our testing.
- Skype can be substituted for most major paid or free meeting software.