Introduction

 

Owl Labs is dedicated to empowering educators to create engaging and inclusive learning environments for all students. Our innovative video conferencing solutions, like the Meeting Owl, provide crystal-clear audio and video, 360-degree coverage, and intelligent sound management, ensuring that every student feels seen and heard, regardless of their location.

 

With Owl Labs technology, educators can foster a sense of community and connection in hybrid and distance learning settings while promoting active participation and collaboration among students. To learn more about how Owl Labs can transform your classroom, read on.

Getting Started

 

There are two simple steps to get your Meeting Owl online for the first time: unboxing and registration.

 

Unboxing

When you open your Meeting Owl packaging for the first time, you’ll find:

 

1. Meeting Owl device
2. Power supply
3. AC/DC cables
4. 6.5 ft (2m) USB-C cable
5. Quick-start guide
6. Table card with Owl card holder 

 

To get your Meeting Owl ready for your first virtual or hybrid class:

 

1. Peel the protective plastic film off of the 360° lens on top of the  Owl camera.
2. Plug the power cable into the power supply at the bottom of the Owl, then plug it into an outlet.
3. Plug the USB-C cable into the bottom of the Owl and then into the computer where you'll be running your video conferencing software.

 

 

Registration

Next, you’ll need to register your Meeting Owl by downloading the Meeting Owl app for mobile or desktop. Device registration is required to use your Meeting Owl and helps us keep you informed on which of your Owls are up-to-date or offline so we can better support you.

1. Ensure your Meeting Owl is plugged into both a power source and the computer you’ll be using to run your video conferencing meeting.
2. Download the Meeting Owl mobile or desktop app.
3. Open the Meeting Owl app.
4. Select your Meeting Owl from the Nearby list. This may be labeled Meeting Owl followed by an 8-digit serial number.
5. Select your Location.
6. Select Start.
7. Enter a name for your Meeting Owl and select Next (You can name your Owl after your classroom, your teachers or professors, or anything you want!).
8. Enter your name, your school’s name, and your work email address to register your Meeting Owl. Then, select Register. (You will only need to do this once.) Now, your Meeting Owl is unlocked for use!
9. Select Connect to connect your Meeting Owl to your WiFi network to receive automatic software updates.

Placement + Setup

The Meeting Owl doesn’t require permanent installation to work in your classroom, but there are a few different ways to place your Owl in your classroom to ensure collaboration and communication are simple and clear for you and your students.

 

Placement Options

1. 1. Desk or tabletop
      The easiest way to set up the Meeting Owl is to place it on a level surface, such as a desk or a table, at the front of your classroom. The Meeting Owl will work perfectly with this setup, but we don’t recommend it for classes where you anticipate needing to move the Owl around to different locations frequently, as this setup will require you to move both the Meeting Owl and the desk or table to a different part of your classroom.
      
   2. Cart or stand
      Some schools place the Meeting Owl on a mobile classroom cart, along with a TV or monitor where remote students can be displayed. This can be a more convenient and affordable placement option, as many classrooms already have rolling carts to display content on TVs or monitors, which gives teachers more flexibility during discussions. If this is the best setup for you, here’s a cart we recommend for use with the Meeting Owl.
   3. Tripod mounting
      Many schools mount their Meeting Owl on a tripod, which gives you more flexibility to move your Owl into different spaces in the classroom depending on your needs. The Meeting Owl includes a universal tripod mount, so you can easily screw the tripod plate onto the bottom and mount it on the tripod. Here’s the tripod we recommend for use with the Meeting Owl. If you choose to use another tripod, make sure the tripod screw length is no greater than 5/16” (8mm) long.
      
   4. Ceiling mounting
      Some colleges and universities with circular lecture halls choose to hang their Meeting Owl upside-down from the ceiling so remote students can hear and see everyone in larger classroom spaces.
      
      The Meeting Owl can be mounted to a ceiling mount bracket, which would then be attached to your ceiling using included self-tapping screws. If you plan to mount your Owl to a drop ceiling, support the mount on the back side of the tile using toggle bolts or by driving the included self-tapping screws through the tile into a piece of plywood.
      
      Position the Meeting Owl so the lens is approximately 6-7 ft (1.8-2.1m) above the ground in the center of the classroom or lecture hall, and adjust the height according to the best position for your use case. Then, using the Meeting Owl app, the Owl’s Stage View can be inverted for remote participants. If you like this option, here’s a bracket we recommend for use with the Meeting Owl.

 

1. U-shaped desk arrangement
The U-shaped or horseshoe desk arrangement is best for classes where teachers will be using the whiteboard. Place the Meeting Owl at the front of the horseshoe desk arrangement for an unobstructed view of the whiteboard. For additional clarity, add a dedicated whiteboard camera, like the Whiteboard Owl, to be sure no remote students miss out.

 

2. Circular desk arrangement
The circular desk arrangement is best for discussion-based classes where teachers don’t need to write on the whiteboard. Place the Meeting Owl in the center of the circle or table so remote students can be a part of the discussion.

 

3. Cluster desk arrangement

The cluster desk arrangement is best for classes where students have to work together in groups or where teachers plan to walk around the classroom while lecturing. Place the Meeting Owl in the center of the classroom so remote students can see all of their classmates.

Using the Meeting Owl

 

Now that your Meeting Owl is registered and you’ve selected the best arrangement for your classroom here’s a rundown of how to get started using the Meeting Owl, as well as a tour through the key camera and app features you’ll be using.

 

Getting Started with the Meeting Owl

Here are the basic steps to get started using the Meeting Owl with your preferred video conferencing software once you’ve registered your Owl and set it up in your classroom:

1. Make sure your Meeting Owl is plugged into a power source and your computer. When the Meeting Owl’s eyes stop pulsing and you hear a “hoot,” your Meeting Owl is ready to use.
2. Launch your preferred web-based video conferencing software, such as Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Cisco Webex.
3. Enter your Meeting ID or start a new video conferencing meeting.
4. Select the Meeting Owl as your camera, microphone, and speaker.
5. You’re all set!

Camera features

Here are some of the key Meeting Owl features you’ll see and use when your virtual or hybrid classes begin:

Stage View

The Meeting Owl Stage View is the split-screen that’s visible to remote students showing who’s speaking in the classroom, as well as the 360-degree panoramic view of the entire classroom. Here’s what will appear on remote students’ computer screens at home.

Volume Controls

The Meeting Owl has manual volume controls along the bottom of the device to raise or lower the Meeting Owl’s speaker volume for in-classroom attendees or to mute the Meeting Owl’s microphone.

Meeting Owl App

Within the Meeting Owl app, the following features are available to customize your video conferencing experience in the classroom.

 

Lock and Zoom

The Meeting Owl focuses on whoever is speaking and moving in the classroom automatically, but you can use the Meeting Owl app to focus on a specific area of your classroom, such as the whiteboard or a presenter, without moving.

 

Meeting Owl users can use the Lock and Zoom feature to lock their camera, zoom in, and pan and tilt their camera vertically and horizontally.

 

To use the Lock and Zoom feature on the Meeting Owl:

1. Select your Meeting Owl from the Nearby list.
2. From the Current Meeting Controls page, select Lock and Zoom.
   1. If using paired devices: Select the desired device from the dropdown at the top of your screen, shown below.
3. Move the slider back and forth to select an area you would like to see locked to the screen.
   1. Pan: Move the slider left or right to pan the camera left or right.
   2. Tilt: Move the slider up to tilt the camera up and down to tilt it back down to center.
   3. Zoom: Adjust the Zoom slider up and down ( - / + ) to Zoom in and out.
4. To reset, toggle the button in the top right corner.

 

 

Passcode Lock

School administrators or IT managers can use the Passcode Lock feature to password-protect the Meeting Owl’s in-app settings so only teachers and administrators can adjust them. 

 

To set your Passcode Lock:

1. Select your Owl from the Nearby list.
2. Select About your Owl.
3. Scroll down and select Set Owl Passcode.
4. Enter a numeric passcode to restrict who can access your Owl's settings.

Presenter Enhance

Classroom Technology

One of the great things about Owl Labs’ technology is that it is adaptable to any type of space and compatible with a lot of the technology that teachers and administrators already use. 

Flexible tech for any classroom

 

Meeting Owl 3

The Meeting Owl 3 is an intelligent 360-degree camera, mic, and speaker device that enhances collaboration and engagement in classrooms and lecture halls. It seamlessly captures every angle of the classroom, ensuring that both in-person and remote students feel included and engaged. Through its advanced auto-tracking technology, the Meeting Owl 3 automatically focuses on the active speaker, providing a dynamic, face-to-face experience for all participants. This feature eliminates the need for manual camera switching, allowing teachers to focus on teaching and students to focus on learning. Additionally, the Meeting Owl 3's 18' mic pickup range ensures that every voice is heard, even in large classrooms. This helps facilitate inclusive discussions and ensures that no student feels left out. Whether used for hybrid learning, distance learning, or blended learning environments, the Meeting Owl 3 transforms classrooms into collaborative hubs, fostering a sense of connection and shared learning experience for all students.

 

Whiteboard Owl

The Whiteboard Owl is a dedicated whiteboard camera that pairs with the Meeting Owl 3 to enhance whiteboard visibility and collaboration in classrooms and meeting spaces. It seamlessly captures and enhances the content on the whiteboard, making it clear and easy for remote students to see and follow along. By enhancing whiteboard visibility and making it easy for remote participants to see and follow along, the Whiteboard Owl promotes inclusive learning and collaboration in classrooms and meeting spaces. It is an essential tool for hybrid and remote learning environments, helping to ensure that all participants can engage with the whiteboard content and participate fully in the learning process.

 

 

Owl Bar

The Owl Bar is a versatile front-of-room camera, mic, and speaker device that elevates hybrid and remote collaboration in conference rooms, classrooms, and more. It seamlessly captures and distributes audio and video, ensuring that every participant feels included and engaged. The Owl Bar is a versatile tool that enhances collaboration and engagement in hybrid and remote settings. Its ability to capture and distribute audio and video seamlessly ensures that every student feels included and that classes are productive and engaging. Whether used in classrooms, conference rooms, or virtual spaces, the Owl Bar elevates the collaborative experience and helps organizations achieve their communication goals.

 

Expansion Mic

The Expansion Mic is a companion device designed specifically for the Meeting Owl 3, enhancing its audio capabilities and expanding its coverage range. It seamlessly connects to the Meeting Owl 3 via a micro-HDMI cable, providing an additional 8 feet of audio pickup range, extending the total coverage area to 26 feet in the direction of the mic. This extended range ensures that every voice, even those from participants seated further from the main Meeting Owl 3 device, is captured clearly and delivered to remote students.

 

Compatibility Requirements

Personal Computers

The Meeting Owl - and all Owl Labs’ products - works with most computer operating systems that are able to run web-based video conferencing software. You can use your personal computer to display remote students on your video conferencing software, or you can connect it to a TV or monitor via HDMI to display them on a larger screen so they’re more visible for in-classroom students. 

The Owl is USB UVC 1.1, UAC 1 compatible, and works with USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports. The Owl has been tested to work with USB-C ports using these approved cables and adapters.

The Meeting Owl is compatible with the following operating systems:

1. Windows 7 or higher
2. OSX 10.8 or higher
3. Chrome OS
4. Limited Support on Ubuntu 16.04 or higher (some video applications will work, others may not); may work on other Linux-based systems
   
   

Mac Minis, Chromeboxes, and other small computers

If you’re using a small computer, such as a Mac Mini or Chromebox, as your in-room computer to run video conferencing software, the Meeting Owl works similarly to the way it connects to a typical personal computer. It connects to the Mac Mini or Chromebox via USB, and the Mac Mini or Chrombox connects to a larger monitor or TV screen to display remote students via HDMI.

Projectors

If you prefer to use a projector to transmit what’s on your computer onto the whiteboard to make it easier for in-classroom students to see your remote students, you can connect the Meeting Owl to your computer via USB connection as normal, and connect your computer to the projector via VGA connection. When you do this, make sure you’ve selected the Meeting Owl as your video conferencing software’s audio source, as some projectors can transmit audio and may be listed as an option. 

 

Best practices for using the Meeting Owl

Every classroom environment is unique. Over the years, we’ve collected some techniques to help you optimize the Meeting Owl to your specific classroom environment.

Ideal Environment for the Meeting Owl

When setting up your Meeting Owl in your classroom, be sure that:

• The Meeting Owl is installed on a level surface at the front of center of the classroom
• Students are seated within 18 ft (5.5m) of the Meeting Owl
• Teachers and students face the Owl when they speak and raise hands so the Owl knows who to focus on
• There is minimal side chatter or movement during classroom presentations or discussions
  
  

Speaking + moving during class

We know that asking students, particularly younger ones, not to speak or move out of turn during class is a challenge. The Meeting Owl decides who to auto-focus on based on sound and movement, so it will shift focus onto students who are moving around and talking or making other noise during your discussions. 

Here are a few suggestions for minimizing distractions while still being mindful of your students’ shorter attention spans:

• Schedule regular breaks throughout the school day so students have time and space to get their energy out without disrupting the flow of classroom discussions.
• Use the Camera Lock feature where it makes sense to hide in-classroom distractions from the view of your remote students. This feature will force the Meeting Owl to focus on you or another presenter in the classroom and ignore other movements or speaking in the room.
• Periodically hold less structured discussions using the Meeting Owl, such as Show and Tell or talking about fun topics or personal stories, so younger students can engage and have fun with the Owl outside of your lessons and discussions.
  
  

Speaker Tracking

When you first start using your Meeting Owl during classes, you may notice an initial 3-5 second lag before the Owl begins auto-focusing on a new speaker. The Meeting Owl isn't strictly a motion-tracking camera — it relies on movement and sound in your classroom to intelligently decide where to auto-focus to support collaborative discussion between multiple active speakers.

To help the Meeting Owl auto-focus on you more easily when teaching, stay in the same general area of your classroom while you're lecturing. If you're someone who likes to walk and talk at the same time, make sure you're speaking consistently and not taking too long of pauses so the Owl can see and hear where you are in the room. If you need to take a pause, that's okay too, but the Meeting Owl will need another 3-5 seconds to catch up to you when you start speaking again.

In-Room Noise Reduction

Many schools have powerful ventilation, heating, and cooling systems that can produce a lot of ambient noise for the Meeting Owl to process during classes, so we have a feature to turn on stronger Noise Reduction within the Meeting Owl app.

To turn on Noise Reduction:

1. Select your Owl from the Nearby list.
2. Select the settings icon () in the top right corner.
3. From the list, select Default Settings.
4. From the Default Settings page, under Admin - Default Camera Settings, select Advanced Audio Settings.
5. Under Double Talk, set the value to Aggressive.
   
   

Remote Student Engagement

A key aspect of hybrid or remote instruction is remote student engagement. It’s easier to keep in-classroom students focused since they’ll be present with you, but your remote students will be learning and participating from home, where they don’t get the benefit of interacting with their peers and may be distracted by what’s going on in their homes.

It’s critical that remote students get an equalized learning experience during virtual or hybrid instruction, so below are a few of our suggestions for using the Meeting Owl to facilitate their participation:

1. Alternate between calling on in-classroom and remote students for participation. Use your video conferencing software to show all of your remote students’ faces using the “Gallery View” or “Grid View” on your classroom monitor so you can easily call on them and alternate to make sure all of your students are engaged.
2. Move the Meeting Owl into the center of a desk cluster or circle so remote students can join small group discussions.
3. Call on remote students to read out of textbooks, answer homework or quiz questions, or lead presentations so there’s a balance of in-classroom and remote speakers.
   
   

Screensharing

If you want to share a presentation on your monitor or TV in your classroom from your computer, be mindful that this may hide the view of your remote meeting participants and make it more difficult for remote students to ask questions or participate.

If you anticipate needing to screenshare presentations or other materials frequently in your classroom, you may want to consider setting up dual monitors or TV screens so you and your in-classroom students can see shared content and remote students at the same time. Different video conferencing software have different instructions for setting up dual monitors, so you’ll want to consult their resources for setting this up.

Whiteboarding

For classes where you need remote students to be able to focus on what you’re writing, you can pair your Meeting Owl with a Whiteboard Owl. 

For times when you prefer to use the physical whiteboard in the classroom, pair your Meeting Owl with your Whiteboard Owl and then simply flip one of the whiteboard tags to switch the primary camera to the Whiteboard Owl.

 

 

Recommended Accessories

Lock Adapter

Our Lock Adapter locks your Meeting Owl in place so it can’t fly out of your classroom. It also helps keep your cords organized!

USB Extension Cable

USB or power extension cables may be necessary, depending where you want to place your Meeting Owl and how you want to install it. 

Owl Care

For advanced device protection and support, we offer Owl Care, which includes the Lock Adapter, our USB extension cable, an extended 3-year warranty, a one-time free device replacement, and unlimited end-user onboarding and training.

 

Carrying Case

If you’re sharing your Meeting Owl with other classrooms, or if you want to be extra cautious to prevent any damage, you can purchase our hard-sided carrying case or our soft-sided carrying case.

 

 

Tripod

For tripod installations of your Meeting Owl, we recommend you purchase this tripod. If you purchase a different tripod, make sure the screw length is no greater than 5/16” or 8mm long.

 

Conclusion

We’re honored to be supporting schools, colleges, and universities as they continue to build hybrid and virtual learning into their curriculum. If you ever need help with your Meeting Owl or any other Owl Labs device, reach out to support@owllabs.com.

Additional Resources

• Owl Labs Support Center
• Owl Labs for Education Blogs
• Owl Labs Education Case Studies