Using the “virtual classroom” video conferencing software
virtual classroom is intended to be used by employees for official purposes only and for carrying out their duties for "mit-center"
Possible roles in our virtual classroom:
Within virtual classroom, we differentiate between three different roles:
- Presenter: You can have one presenter per conference. This person monitors the displayed presentation or screenshares and can carry out surveys and integrate videos (e.g. from YouTube). They can also release the slide that is currently displayed for use as a whiteboard. The presenter role can be reassigned at any time.
- Moderator: A moderator can mute participants, unmute them, remove participants from the conference or assign to them the presenter and moderator roles.
- Participant: Participants can follow a conference, take part in the chat, participate in the conference via the audio or video channels and participate in surveys. Participants cannot influence the presentation shown.
These roles can be reassigned at any time. Please ensure you only give the participants the rights that they actually require.
Setting up virtual video conferencing rooms in virtual classroom
The creation of video conferences, online meetings or webinars is restricted to OFFIS employees and requires registration with an mit-center account (access identification) and the related password. Please keep this access data safe and do not pass it to third parties. The room designation must not contain any personal data.
Conference rooms can be protected using access codes. Please use this option to prevent unauthorised participants from joining your conference. Please also ensure that you set up the room so that other persons can only access once this has been approved by the moderator, or set up password protection for the room.
Conference rooms can only be used if the organiser has started the conference. Please avoid conference rooms which are permanently open to prevent the burden on the servers as much as possible.
For larger video conferences with over 50 participants, please consult info(at)mit-center.eu.
Inviting external participants
External participants may only be invited to a video conference, online meeting or webinar via a link which was sent from the organiser of the video conference to the participants. You must generate a one-time password when inviting external participants, and this must always be observed.
Please be aware that virtual classroom was designed in particular for internal use and that external parties should only be invited in exceptional circumstances if this is necessary for the project work. On the other hand, the usability of virtual classroom can be significantly limited because of the utilisation of the system.
Complying with legal requirements
Users must not violate applicable legal regulations when using virtual classroom. In particular, you must
- adhere to copyright law and only use presented materials which have not been approved explicitly for the intended use for these specific purposes. You must not publish, modify, distribute or reproduce materials protected by copyright, trademarks or information protected by other public or property rights in any way without the prior written permission of the owner of such property rights;
- not disseminate any unlawful or immoral contents via virtual classroom;
- refrain from any advertising or marketing activities in virtual classroom;
- respect the privacy of other people and not spread any harassing, slanderous or threatening content;
- refrain from activities which could impair, interrupt, overload or otherwise influence or damage the services or servers or networks which are connected with the mit-center services or security systems;
- not publish or pass on any personal data of which you have obtained knowledge by using virtual classroom;
- refrain from recording a video conference via virtual classroom, even for private purposes. Only the organiser may arrange a recording, and this must be communicated to all participants in advance, and their consent must be obtained (see also “Recordings”).
Users can be made liable for any damage which is caused by violations against the applicable legal regulations.
Employees must also observe the “Use of mit-center resources” provisions.
Data protection
Data protection must always be observed when using virtual classroom. The organiser of a video conference in particular must observe the applicable data protection regulations when using data. For this reason, they may only process the personal data required for the respective scenario and must not use this for any other purposes. If you wish to share your screen during a virtual conference, think about whether you would like to remove or hide any personal information such as icons from your desktop, browser history when entering search terms or any bookmarks and menu bars.
You can find more information about data protection in virtual classroom in our privacy policy and the information according to Art. 13 GDPR.
Recordings
The recording function is currently deactivated in mit-center.
If this should change, you should only record video conferences if you, the organiser, are only recording yourself, meaning that all cameras and microphones of the participants are switched off, or if all participants have explicitly consented to the recording and its related purpose. All participants have the “Right to their own image”, as well as their own verbal expressions.
General information for use
- The technical requirements for using virtual classroom are a PC or laptop with a simple headset (headphones with mic), otherwise there is a risk of acoustic feedback or doubled audio transmission, and an internet connection (16 Mbit).
- When connecting the mic, please be sure to carry out the echo test completely (headset must be plugged in).
- We recommend that you open the browser (Firefox or Chrome, other browsers are not supported) in two windows in advance so that you can retrieve video conference documents and emails at the same time.
- Please be sure to disconnect your VPN connection with the mit-center network before a video conference, if applicable. This will save valuable bandwidth and improve the audio and video quality of your conference.
- Please enter your surname first and then your first name into virtual classroom.
- When connecting your camera, please select “Low Quality”.
- Please only switch on your camera once asked to do so by the chair of the meeting. After the greeting, please switch it off and only activate it again if you would like to make a longer statement.
- Please only activate your mic if you would like to speak.
- You can announce any speeches and questions by making an entry in the chat, the chair of the meeting will then let you speak.
- If you must leave the meeting at short notice, please click on “Log out” and not “End conference”.
- If you experience problems with the data volume of your internet connection, you can deactivate webcams and screen approval via “Save data volume” and “Settings” (can be selected via the three dots at the top right).
Points of contact and help
In case of technical problems, please contact:
Please describe your problem briefly, we will get in touch with you as quickly as possible! Please also state a phone number that we use to reach you if necessary.
