Guess what? The digital copy of this book is 100% free here.

Right Now

The reality is that teachers can absolutely benefit from reading Technology Tools For Online Education right now. In the midst of an ongoing pandemic, education has almost entirely transitioned to online courses. This has left many teachers scrambling to adapt in order to learn how to keep their students engaged in this new setting. As always, teachers are often working long hours. It can feel impossible to learn a wide range of new tools and make a lesson plan at the same time. This guide makes learning how to use online tools simple so that you can get to work creating the perfect online environment for your students. 

When You Want To Prepare For The Future

COVID-19 was a wake up call that showed us just how unpredictable the world really is. Though it is nice to think that something like this will never happen again, the fact is that we just don’t know. Even now, there is no clear date for when schools will reopen, and many experts seem to think that it simply will not be safe for a while. This guide can help you to prepare for a future where you might need to leverage these skills again and on an ongoing basis. 

When You Want To Improve

Though there is a need for this kind of material now more than ever, the reality is that this book isn’t purely for the post-pandemic world. The future of every industry is largely rooted in technology. In this book, you will not only learn how to teach online. You will also learn how to leverage incredible online tools to create a more expansive and modern approach to educating your students. Whether you are teaching entirely online or you just want to give your students access to online opportunities that will help them to grow, you can learn how within these pages. 

Conclusion

The truth is that there is no right or wrong time to read this book. In this guide, you will learn how to use helpful tools that you can use to improve your education process. Whether it is out of necessity or simply to stay modern with your approach to teaching, the fact is that this information will always be helpful. Learn how to embrace the future and leverage these amazing tools to create a better teaching experience for you and your students. It is always a good day for educators to educate themselves. 

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There is more than one way to live stream virtual graduation and almost none of them are easy. With that being said, this blog post should recognize the hard work volunteers, teachers, and professional companies put into producing virtual graduations. PTZOptics has recently hosted an hour-long live stream interviewing five professionals who have recently helped the schools they serve with their virtual graduations. In 2020, virtual graduations have become the “new normal.” They have allowed schools to safely host graduation ceremonies while still practicing safe social distancing.

Three ways to host virtual graduation:

1. Live stream the entire event
2. Record the event and post as a premier
3. Record the event over multiple days, use video editing software to put it together, and post as a video

In previous years, many high school and college graduations were live streams in order to accommodate families and friends who could not make it physically to the event. This year, everyone was asked to stay home and watch the live stream. Therefore, most schools decided to record the video of their graduation ceremonies and put together a nice video they could premiere online. When you Premiere a video, it means that you upload a pre-recorded video and it is released as if it was a live stream. Therefore, there is a chat-room and a countdown timer. The event can then be viewed live in a watch-party style. A video premiere is a great option because it allows your school to edit out any dead-air or bloopers. It’s also nice because the students can actually watch their graduation video happen from home.

Tips for hosting a virtual graduation

Five video production experts have joined together to tell us advice on live streaming and hosting virtual graduations. The first tip is to prepare. You can actually save hundreds of hours of setup and post-production time by putting together a logical plan for your video production team. Drake and Julia Finney for example, from Havasu Online TV, spent hundreds of hours producing the videos for their virtual graduation that would eventually be premiered. This husband and wife team truly cared about the video they put together and wanted it to be a keepsake for the students to look back on in years to come. While the video production quality is superior when you spend more time, other school districts put together videos that were essentially recorded live and stitched together. Tom White from the Morgan County High School spent 16 hours setting up and recording his school’s graduation ceremony over three days. The school decided to host the graduation over multiple days in order to maintain social distancing. Tom was able to stitch together the video footage from these three days into a video that would eventually be premiered on Facebook and YouTube in a little less than four hours of post-production.

Summary

Download our free guide on how to host virtual graduations by filling out the form below. Our other experts share tips on ways to show overlays, student names, titles, and much more in ways that can save you time and create extra special videos for your next graduation. Whether your school’s graduation is totally in-person or totally virtual, a live stream will help your preserve the video for years to come. Another tip shared with us by Dave Edwards of Worldwide Streaming Network is recording a high-quality video file while streaming as well. You see, the video footage can be recorded in high quality and streamed in a lower quality due to internet bandwidth restraints. With the recorded video you can edit out bloopers, add graphics, and upload the video in higher quality than your live stream. Also, if you are super-savvy you can manage all of the graphics while you are live streaming. This will save you tons of time in post-production. As always, you will get better with time. Consider taking one of our Udemy courses on video production to increase your skills in OBS, vMix, and other solutions.

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But sometimes schools miss out on opportunities because they are using outdated technology. Many schools are still offering students the chance to learn on shoulder-mounted cameras. Whether held on a student’s shoulder or tripod-mounted, these cameras still have a place in video production. However, some schools are stepping into the future and opening up more learning opportunities by equipping student studios with the latest PTZOptics cameras.

Camera Control from Anywhere

Shoulder or tripod-mounted cameras require a student operator to be with the camera at all times. This can often make it challenging to find enough available, trained students. It also means that camera operators are away from the control room where all the action is. PTZOptics cameras can be operated from the control room or anywhere else that is appropriate. Students who are operating cameras have a better opportunity to learn more aspects of the production process since they can be gathered with other students and teachers.

Familiar Controls Lead to Faster Success

There are not many students who aren’t comfortable with a joystick. PTZOptics camera controllers and joysticks make it easy for students to get a feel for controlling cameras. Controllers also have built-in presets for smooth and easy camera movements. For something even more familiar, students can now use Xbox controllers to pan, tilt, zoom, and even switch control to another camera.

Built-In Robotics

Smart students are learning all they can about robotics. Robotics will play a significant role in the future of automation and will impact nearly every aspect of our lives. Students will be drawn to the opportunity to work with what is essentially a robotic camera. There is a lot to be learned from a professional-grade device that can be operated remotely.

Perfect for Many Student Projects

PTZOptics cameras are ideal for nearly any type of student production. Student announcements will look better than ever and provide more opportunities for students to master the elements of production. Schools that host eSports tournaments will find that these cameras offer the chance to create professional-looking results. Any student production can look better and provide more opportunities for students to learn and grow.

Mentoring Students in Broadcast Technology

Students who are interested in a future in broadcast technology need opportunities to get hands-on experience with the equipment that will shape the future of the industry. Teachers and mentors will have no trouble mastering the features of these easy to use cameras. They can pass on that knowledge along with other aspects of video production to a new generation of producers. PTZOptics cameras and controllers can help students quickly gain confidence and begin to create video productions they can be proud of.

Learn more about PTZOptics Educational Case Studies here.

The post Advantages of PTZ Cameras for Student Operators appeared first on PTZOptics.

The gaming computers were provided by Helix Esports, and each computer was used to runOBS (Open Broadcaster Software) to capture the RocketLeague gameplay. OBS was used to create a picture-in-picture output with a webcam source from PTZOptics webcams plugged into each computer via USB. OBS is able to output an NDI IP video feed for each computer it is running on which it is then able to be pulled into Wirecast as additional sources over the LAN. In a similar way, the observer PC used to view gameplay from each player in the RocketLeague tournament was captured via NDI and OBS. The observer PC was used by the play-by-play announcer and the student-run broadcast as a source for viewing the gameplay at large. The production system allowed the S.A.R High School students the ability to create a dynamic esports video production using a mix of gameplay screens, player webcams, and PTZOptics cameras in the space.

The StreamGeeks Summit happened on November 8th, 2020 in New York City. The tournament featured a 3 on 3 Rocket League setup with seven computers and a production PC all connected together on one LAN (Local Area Network). There was a stage area with two students play by play announcers on camera with microphones for audio pickup. The production crew had multiple PTZOptics NDI camera available to use in order to zoom into the play by play announcers but also capture angles that show each of the gaming stations. Students from the S.A.R high school broadcast club were able to produce a 100% student-run live stream with the available video and audio sources spread across the local area network. The entire student-run production was then live-streamed to Twitch.

So where do you begin? 

Let’s start with capturing the gameplay of each player and include a webcam video feed as well. With 6 players spread out hundreds of feet from each other, the USB capture card method mentioned our basic setup would not be possible. Most live streamers do not recommend the use of more than two capture cards with a single computer. This is due to USB bandwidth constraints built-in to most computers. Instead of using expensive capture cards and video extensions you can use IP video that leverages the ethernet cabling already connecting every computer.

Each of the RocketLeague computers should be connected to a local area network as a prerequisite to hosting the tournament. A local area network or LAN is basically an interconnected system that connects each computer for gameplay with ethernet cabling using networking equipment. This same networking infrastructure can also be used to connect each gaming computer to the production PC.

In the planning stages of your Esports tournament, you will want to know exactly how many computers and devices you will have on your LAN (local area network). Most networks can handle 254 connected devices, all communicating with unique IP addresses, without advanced configurations. The brain behind your LAN is generally a piece of networking equipment called a router. A router is used to manage all of your computers and other devices connected on your network. All devices on your network will need unique IP addresses in order to communicate. This is not something you generally have to worry about and it will be covered in more detail in the included Esports Streaming Course. But for now just understand, each device can be assigned an IP address manually or automatically using DHCP. Assuming your router is set up to handle DHCP, it will automatically give any device connected to your network an IP address unless the device has already been assigned an IP address manually.

Take the above network for example. The modem providing the internet to your router is optional. If you plug a modem with internet access into your router, it will allow you to give all of the devices on your network internet connectivity. Internet connectivity is generally important for Esports tournaments, not just for live streaming but also for updating game software with the latest builds.

Connected to the router is a network switch. Network switches are used to connect devices together using ethernet cabling. As you can see there are 6 “Esports Computers” connected to the network switch. Because they are connected to the network, the router will assign each computer an IP address using DHCP. Once each computer is connected to the same local area network the RocketLeague software will automatically see each computer running the game on the network and allow the students to play the game together in your tournament. Also connected to your network you can see your Observer and Production PCs. These computers can be used to send and receive video over IP as well on the local area network. Your production PC will be receiving video from all 7 computers on your network by the end of this set up.

As you can see the video production computer is running a software called Wirecast. Wirecast is a great software for video production and the students from the S.A.R High School operating the system use it to produce traditional sports like Basketball all the time. On each Esports computer you can install a piece of software called OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) to capture the gameplay and a webcam connected to the computer via USB. OBS can be used to combine a screen capture of the gameplay and a picture in picture source of the USB webcam source together. OBS is an amazing free tool for video production and it can output an IP standard called NDI with a plugin. Once you are running OBS on each of the Esports computers you can choose to customize your IP NDI video output. NDI can be used as a low-latency video output from OBS which is used to transport each Esports computer video source into your production computer over the LAN. Because all of these computers are connected over the same local area network, all of the OBS NDI outputs can be pulled in with Wirecast over the network.

Another important part of the production connected to your LAN is the Observer PC. The Observer PC can also run OBS to capture the video gameplay and output the video via IP using NDI. The “Observer” feature of the RocketLeague software is available in almost all other competitive video games as well and it has become an important tool for play by play announcers. The Observer PC should be set up in view for your play by play announcers who will be using the monitor to do their job. Your production team should consider the Observer PC video input one of the staples of their production. Just like regular sports production you want to give the audience a good overview of the field as the play develops. Transitioning to individual gamers screens should be reserved for special occasions happening during gameplay.

Your play by play announcers will, of course, have microphones for capturing their performances. Microphones are generally used with XLR connections that can be connected to a USB audio interface. A standard USB audio interface can mix together multiple XLR microphones and connect to your production PC with a simple USB cable. The play by play announcers will also be captured via video using a camera connected to your system. In the diagram above, you can see the system has added multiple NDI capable PTZOptics cameras and the audio system for the play by play announcers. NDI cameras can output video directly to your computer without the need of a capture card. PTZOptics NDI cameras also feature PoE (Power over Ethernet) capabilities which allow teams to connect a single ethernet cable to power the camera, control the camera, and connect to their software for video.

Another IP connected device that gives students an important role in the production is an IP joystick. In this example, there is a PTZOptics IP joystick that is connected to the network which is able to operate the pan, tilt, and zoom operations of the PTZOptics 20X NDI cameras. Both the joystick and the camera can be powered over Ethernet assuming you are using a power over ethernet capable network switch. The IP joystick uses the PTZOptics camera’s static IP address to communicate. Unlike the Esports computers that use DHCP to ge their IP addresses, devices like PTZ cameras usually keep static IP addresses. You can of course control PTZOptics cameras directly inside software like Wirecast or OBS but a dedicated joystick controller can make your production easier to manage so that your student producer can focus on the production.

So that’s the basics of a simple 3 on 3 Esports tournament local area network with a broadcast setup for two play by play announcers. In the next chapter, you can dig in deeper and understand what it really takes to pull of an Esports tournament live stream like this.

Download the Case Study here:

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