SongU.com e-Classroom Troubleshooting Guide
 

What To Do If... • You Have Trouble Finding or Entering The e-Classroom • Your Instructor Forgets To Start A Transcript Recording • You Do Not Know How To Get Back To The Classroom Handout • You Cannot See The Text Chat Window (or It's Too Small) • You Are Getting Audio Interference In The e-Classroom

• You Forget To Mute Your Audio During Song Playback • You Have Audio/Video Problems • You Have Questions About Classroom Procedures • The Instructor and Evening Coordinator Are Not Present At Start Of Class • The Instructor Vanished During Class • No One But You Is Present At Start Of Class

Issue: You Have Trouble Finding or Entering e-Classroom Before or During Class
Action:

1. Make sure you are correctly trying to enter the e-Classroom from the "My Courses" area rather than the "e-Auditorium" link.
2. If the above does not resolve the issue, try rebooting your computer and then try re-entering the e-Classroom.
3. If you continue to have trouble, please submit a Help/Support request. If you are submitting a Help/Support request after business hours (9-5pm ET), you may not get a response until the next business day. You will be able to listen to the transcript of the recorded session to hear what happened. That will be available the day after the scheduled class meeting and can be found by going through your My Courses area to the course homepage. 

Issue: Your Instructor Forgets To Start A Transcript Recording
Action:

1. For all appropriate classes, instructors will make a transcript recording available for anyone who is unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. That way they can still learn even though they were unable to attend in real-time. You can simply remind the instructor at the start of class time if they have not mentioned starting the recording and you are unsure a recording has been started. Simply type something like -- "Did you remember to start the recording?"  -- into the chat window to remind the instructor about it.

Issue: You Do Not Know How To Get Back To The Classroom Handout
Action:

1. During Feedback and Mentoring sessions (FDBK), you often have to navigate you way through the class roster to a member's backpack in order to listen to their song. This process is repeated each time you need to listen to a song. If for some reason you lose your place on the handout, you can right-click on the page in the screen and choose "back". This will navigate you "back" to the page you were on previously.
2. If you still cannot get back to the correct page, let the Instructor or Evening Coordinator know and they can either bring up the handout again for everyone or try to walk you through locating the correct spot in the handout again.

Issue: You Cannot See The Text Chat Window (or Text Chat Window Is Too Small)
Action:

1. If you cannot see the text chat window in the e-Classroom, click on the chat icon in the area of the upper right corner of your screen  (see figure below). This will make the chat window appear near the bottom right of your screen.

2. If the chat window is too small for you, you can resize the text chat window to a full size by closing the list of participants windows. To do this, you should click on the picture of the triangle to the left of the participants list to expand/minimize the participants window (see figure below). Keep in mind that this will close the participant list window to make room for the chat text window to be bigger.

3. If you're still having trouble, let your Instructor or the Evening Coordinator know and they can try to assist. If your problem can't be resolved, do your best to continue attending class bypassing the issue. After class, submit a Help/Support request form and we will try to assist you in resolving the issue before your next class. Note that unfortunately, we cannot control the amount of area displayed by the text chat as that is limited by the software other than the default size and the maximized size.

Issue: You Are Getting High-Pitch Feedback or Audio Interference In The e-Classroom
Action:

1. This can occur if you have your speaker volume too loud or your mic positioned to close to your speakers. See if you can lower your speaker volume a little and/or position your speakers further away from your microphone if possible.
2. If the above fails to resolve the issue, see if you can try lowering your mic volume and/or position the microphone a little further away from your speakers.
3. If you continue to have trouble, let the Instructor or the SongU.com Evening Coordinator know and they can assist you in basic troubleshooting as well.
4. If your problem can't be resolved, do your best to continue attending class bypassing the issue. After class, submit a Help/Support request form and we will try to assist you in resolving the issue before your next class.

Issue: You (or Another Participant) Forgets To Mute Webcam/Audio During Song Playback
Action:

1. This can occur during a feedback session if you are asked to listen to a song. If either your mic/webcam or any of the participants mics/webcams are active, the sound from their speakers when they are listening will be piped immediately back through their active microphone and into the e-Classroom. This can cause a distracting "echoing" effect that may interfere with the others listening to the song. 
2. You can ask the participants to click on their picture of the microphone next to their name in the participant list to mute their microphone and/or webcam (see image below). If it's your microphone that you've forgotten to turn off, then you can turn off yours by the same method.
3. If for some reason you have trouble and cannot perform the above steps, your Instructor or the SongU.com Evening Coordinator can assist you with this.

Issue: You Have Audio Problems or Video Problems Before or During Class
Action:

1. Let the Instructor know that you are having technical trouble with your audio/video and you are going to attempt to troubleshoot. You can either attempt the troubleshooting steps below or you can ask the Instructor or the SongU.com Evening Coordinator to assist you with them.

• Video Problems. If you are having video trouble with the webcam but your audio is working fine, make sure you have clicked the webcam icon next to your name in the e-Classroom (see figure below) to activate your webcam in the e-Classroom.

The webcam icon above can be used to toggle a person's webcam on/off in the e-Classroom. If toggling this button does not turn on your webcam, but you have audio in the e-Classroom, then continue in audio-only mode so as not to disrupt the class. After class (or the next day), submit a Help/Support request so we can help you resolve any webcam issues.

• Audio Problems. If you are having audio trouble, you may have forgotten to click the "Call Using Computer"  button when you joined the e-Classroom. Clicking that button is necessary when first joining the classroom as it activates your microphone. To do this now, locate the "Audio" menu choice from the pull down menu near the top of the screen and then choose "Audio Conference". When the pop-up appears, click the "Call Using Computer" button.

1. If you have clicked the "Call Using Computer" but are still having audio trouble, you should run a microphone/speaker test. Click on the "Audio" menu choice from the pull down menu near the top and then choose "Speaker/Microphone Audio Test". Test your microphone to ensure it's picking up some level by watching the level indicator. 
2. If the microphone is not picking up any level, make sure you have your microphone turned on and have the volume up. Some microphones have separate on/off controls and some also have separate volume controls on the mic itself or the wire connected to the microphone.
3. You should also check to make sure you have not accidentally muted your microphone in the e-Classroom by toggling the picture of the microphone in the e-Classroom on/off (see image below).

4. Still having problems? Make sure you are not running any competing programs at the same time that could be vying for control of the microphone like a recording program (e.g., ProTools) or Skype.
5. Try re-booting your computer and re-running the microphone test in the e-Classroom.
6. If you continue to have trouble, you can ask your Instructor or the SongU.com Evening Coordinator to assist you in basic troubleshooting as well.
7. If you are still having problems and you are unable to get audio after 15 minutes, you should do your best to participate via text chat. Let your instructor know that you are having technical issues with your audio/video in the classroom have been unable to resolve them. After class, submit a Help/Support form so we can follow-up with you to investigate the problem and help you resolve it before your next class.

Issue: You Have Questions About The e-Classroom or About Classroom Procedures
Action:

1. If the question is something that does not affect the running of the class (e.g., "I wonder why more people didn't show up?"), please wait until after class and then submit a Help/Support form so we can answer your question or try to resolve the issue before your next class.
2. If the question is something that does affect the class (e.g., "How do I listen to this song?"), ask your Instructor or the SongU.com Evening Coordinator who will try to assist.
3. If it's something pertaining to class ("I can't play this person's song"), try not to allow any single issue to distract the Instructor from the class for longer than 5-10 minutes. If it's possible for you to continue class bypassing the issue, please do so and then submit a Help/Support request form and we will try to assist you in resolving the issue before your next class.

Issue: The Instructor And Evening Coordinator Are Not Present At The Start Of Class
Action:

1. Each class is staffed by a SongU.com Instructor, and when possible, the SongU.com Evening Coordinator. If the instructor is having technical difficulties or a family emergency, they may be running late. In this case, the SongU.com Evening Coordinator will handle contacting the instructor and keeping you informed. In the event the Instructor is not able to get to class within 15 minutes of the class starting time, class will be cancelled. Should this happen, the Evening Coordinator will take care of notifying the staff. In the event that both the Instructor and Evening Coordinator are not present, please submit a Help/Support request to let us know and we will follow-up the next day and notify all participants about rescheduling the class. 

Issue: The Instructor Vanished During Class
Action:

1. If the Instructor disappears during class, it is likely that they lost their Internet connection. Should this happen, simply remain in the class and give them time to reconnect to the e-Classroom. If for some reason they have had a power outtage, it may not be possible for them to return to class. If after 15 minutes, the instructor has not re-appeared, class is cancelled. If the SongU.com Evening Coordinator is present, they will notify us about what happened and we will notify the class if class needs to be rescheduled. 

Issue: No One But You Is Present At The Start Of Class
Action:

1. If no one but you are in the e-Classroom, chances are you're either too early, too late, on the wrong day or in the wrong room. Keep in mind that SongU.com uses Eastern Time (ET, New York City) for all scheduling. So if you're in a different timezone, make sure you're there on the correct day and time. If this is the correct day and time, make sure you have entered the correct room from the "My Courses" area of the site. If you still have questions after double-checking, submit a Help/Support form and we will investigate the problem and help you resolve it before your next class.