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Instructions for Using the Study Hall USA Live Interactive Tutoring Whiteboard

Entering the Live Interactive Online Session Step 1 - Practice Beforehand - to make the best use of your session, if this is your first time using a Study Hall USA live tutoring session, practice by going to our practice room - By Clicking Here. Others may be in the room. Use these instructions to practice. Step 2 - Print Instructions - print these instructions either by printing this web page or by Clicking Here for PDF Version, and printing a PDF version of these instructions. Step 3 - Which Board - You will receive an email from Study Hall USA before your session to give you the web URL to use to access your online tutoring session. It will look something like: http://www.studyhallusa.com/online/mathroom.html. Step 4 - Print Instructions - print these instructions either by printing this web page or by Clicking Here for PDF Version, and printing a PDF version of these instructions. Step 5 - Go To The Board - open your internet browser and type in the web URL you are given in the email described in Step 3. Step 6 - Active X Control - if this is your first time with Study Hall USA, you may be asked to install a small piece of software. It is harmless. Please install it. Step 7 - Log In - using the web URL you are given, enter the username and password that you chose or that we gave you. Step 8 - Video - after you enter your username and password, a pop-up will appear asking you whether you want to use video. If you have a video cam on your computer and your Study Hall USA online tutor has indicated in the email that he or se has video, you both may elect to use the video feature. If not, answer "NO". Step 9 - Audio - after the video pop-up appears, another pop-up will appear asking if you wish the session to be recorded - ALWAYS ANSWER "YES". In this way, you will be able to SPEAK LIVE TO YOUR TUTOR. We may or may not actually record your session. Step 10 - Begin Your Tutoring Session - you will now have access to the full whiteboard, audio, chat (and video, if selected). Your tutor will join you at th same time. Enjoy your tutoring session.
Using the Whiteboard
	The drawing canvas of the whiteboard. If you are using a mouse, hold the left mouse button down to draw onto the canvas. If you are using a digital writing pad, use the pen supplied with the digital writing pad. You and your tutor will see each other drawing in real-time. If you have loaded a large image onto the board, you can use the scrollbars to move to different areas of the whiteboard. The two features you will use the most are: - Use to draw freehand lines. Using your mouse or the pen from the digital writing board, click this icon first; then you can draw freehand on the whiteboard. Try it. - Use to place text. Using your mouse or the pen from the digital writing board, click this icon; then click on the whiteboard with the left mouse button (or the pen) where you want the text to appear, then type in the text. You can change the font by selecting it from the drop-down list at the top. The size of the text is determined by the current thickness selected. ALWAYS HIT ENTER AFTER FINISHING YOUR TEXT ENTRY. To use every one of the features of the whiteboard, click the feature with your mouse or ditigal pen, then hold it down on the whiteboard until you like what you see. Then release. Try it on each one in practice.
	Click on a button to activate that function: - Go to previous image in list of png/jpeg files. - Go to next image in list of png/jpeg files. Load - allows you to load a previously saved picture, or a jpeg/png background image. Save - allows you to save the current picture. If the filename you enter ends with ".jpg", ".jpeg" or ".png", the picture will be saved as a jpeg or png file. Otherwise it is saved in a custom vector format. Upload Background - allows you to upload jpeg or png images which can then be loaded as backgrounds. Note that this button is only displayed if you have upload permission. Disable Drawing (if enabled by Study Hall USA) - click this button to prevent any other users from drawing onto the whiteboard. Note that this button is only displayed if you have "disable interaction" permission, and the show_disable_drawing option is set. When you click this button, a window appears showing who can draw. You can click on a user's name to allow only that user to draw. Desktop Sharing (if enabled by Study Hall USA) - clicking this button enables the desktop sharing function. Your computer desktop image will be sent to the other users in real-time, allowing you to demonstrate applications. The other users will just be able to view your desktop and your mouse pointer; they will not have any control over your desktop or your computer. The Desktop Sharing button only appears if the show_deskshare option has been set to true in the options file for the whiteboard. File Store (if enabled by Study Hall USA) - clicking this button brings up a file store, allowing you to upload and download files. This button only appears if the show_filestore option has been set to true in the options file for the whiteboard. Messages (if enabled by Study Hall USA) - clicking this button brings up a bulletin board, allowing you to read and post messages. This button only appears if the show_msgboard option has been set to true in the options file for the whiteboard. Chat - clicking this button brings up a chat window, allowing you to chat to other users. This button only appears if the show_chat option has been set to true in the options file for the whiteboard. Record (if enabled by Study Hall USA) - clicking this button starts recording the session. Ths button only appears if the show_record option has been set to true in the options file for the whiteboard. Send URL - Type in a URL, then press the RETURN key or click the Send Url button to open up the web page on the other users' displays.
	Click on a button to change the current drawing mode: - Use to draw freehand lines. - Use to draw straight lines. Drag and hold down the left mouse button (or pen) to draw the line. - Use to draw ovals and circles. - Use to draw filled ovals and circles. - Use to draw rectangles and squares. - Use to draw filled rectangles and squares. - Use to draw using a highlighter tool. - Use to draw dotted lines. - Use to draw arrows. - Use to draw polygons. Click with the left mouse button to place each vertex, then double-click to finish. - Use to draw filled polygons. Click with the left mouse button to place each vertex, then double-click to finish. - Use to place text. Using your mouse or the pen from the digital writing board, click this icon; then click on the whiteboard with the left mouse button (or the pen) where you want the text to appear, then type in the text. You can change the font by selecting it from the drop-down list at the top. The size of the text is determined by the current thickness selected. ALWAYS HIT ENTER AFTER FINISHING YOUR TEXT ENTRY. - Use to flood fill an area with the current color (note that the flood fill may not display correctly if you subsequently use the pan or zoom functions). - Enters eye dropper mode, allowing you to pick a color from the drawing canvas. Click the left mouse button on the whiteboard canvas to select the color from the pixel at that location. If you have the RGB color palette displayed, the color will also appear in the palette window. - The eraser acts in the same way as a large freehand brush with white color. - Sets the current zoom level to 100%. - Zooms in on the picture. - Zooms out of the picture. - Use this like a laser pointer to highlight items to other users on the whiteboard without actually leaving any mark on the whiteboard. You can change the size and color of the laser pointer by using the size and color selectors. - Enters pan mode, allowing you to move the drawing canvas. Click the left mouse button on the whiteboard canvas and drag to pan. - Click to clear the contents of the whiteboard. - Click to undo the last drawing action. - Click to redo the last undo. - Enters select mode, allowing you to select an area of the whiteboard for copy/paste operations. You can also click on objects to select them, and move them by dragging. - Click to copy the contents of the whiteboard (or selected area, if any) to the system clipboard. - Click to paste the contents of the system clipboard into the whiteboard. - Click to cut the selected area and copy it to the system clipboard. - Click to delete the selected area or objects. - Click to crop the image to the selected area. - Click to print the whiteboard (or selected area). - Click to bring up the gridlines window, allowing you to have a grid on top of the whiteboard and optional snap-to-grid. - Brings up the help screen. - Click on the line thickness you want to use. This will be the pen size for lines and unfilled shapes, and the font size for drawing text.
	Click on the drawing colour you want to use. - click to bring up an RGB colour palette window.

	Your video preview window. Click on the X below the video window to stop sending your video to other users. Below the video window is the audio recording meter: the circle lights up red when your voice is being transmitted to other users, and the red bar shows the current recording signal level of your microphone.
	Other user's video window. The triangle lights up green when that user is speaking.
	Audio controls: Speaker - Move the slider to the right to increase your speaker volume (the volume that you will hear other users speaking). Microphone - Move the slider to the right to increase your microphone volume. Buffering - Move the slider to the right to increase the buffering of incoming voice data. This will only affect what you hear. Increasing the buffering reduces breakups, but increases delay. Disable Talking (optional) - Clicking on this button disables all other users from speaking. Only displayed if the user has disable interaction permissions. Grant Presenter (optional) - Grants another user presenter status. This button is only available if the conference room has been set up in presenter mode, where only one user can talk/draw. Math Icons If you are in a Math conference room, there will be math icons to the right of the whiteboard. These icons will represent symbols associated wth different math operations and will be self explanatory. Click on the icon you wish to use and place it where you wish on the whiteboard. Then go back to the freehand or text icons and use the math icon in conjunction with other text or symbols. Using the Audio/Video Conferencing The conference room can support up to 4 users, each with video and/or audio. If you have enabled your webcam, your preview window will appear at the top, with the audio controls underneath. The other users will appear in the windows to the bottom. Your video is transmitted automatically to the other users. By default the frame rate is set to 0.5 frames per second when you are not speaking, and 4.0 frames per second when you are speaking. This can be changed in the configuration files on the server. Audio is only transmitted to the other users when you are speaking. The recording circle (under the video preview window) should light up red when you are speaking and your voice is being transmitted, and it should be white when you stop speaking. If this does not happen, you may need to adjust your microphone volume. Alternatively you can use "push-to-talk" mode: simply untick "Auto Transmit Voice". Then simply click and hold the left mouse button on the circle when you want to speak. NOTE: if a user has not transmitted any audio or video, you will not see their name displayed. Troubleshooting Echos - echos are an indication that there is feedback (the speech is coming out of a user's loudspeakers and entering their microphone). This can be solved by ensuring that all users use headsets rather than loudspeakers. If this is not possible, the problem can be reduced by ensuring that all users untick "Automatic Recording", and use push-to-talk. Break-ups - if you hear break-ups in the sound, it can have one of two causes. If parts of the speech are missing, it means that the talking user's microphone volume is too low for the automatic recording threshold. That user will need to either increase their microphone volume or untick "Auto Transmit Voice". If no speech is lost and you simply get breaks in the sound, it means that the packets are getting delayed. Check to make sure that you are not using any applications that are using your internet bandwidth (such as file sharing apps). If this does not solve the problem, try increasing the buffering slider in the Options window. Delays - you should never get delays of more than one or two seconds. If you do get large delays, it can be caused by one of two things. First, if you see a green triangle or red circle lit continuously, it indicates that a user has an open microphone (continuously recording), which can cause delays to build up. The user who is constantly recording should either reduce their microphone volume or untick "Auto Transmit Voice". If you have "mic boost" enabled for your microphone, you should disable it (go to the advanced settings in the windows volume control). Delays can also be reduced by reducing the buffering slider, although this might increase break-ups in the sound. Large delays can also be caused if your internet connection is dropping packets. If you still experience problems, or you have any questions that are not covered here, feel free to email us at info@studyhallusa.com or call us at 760-753-7138 during business hours.