Webex Help pages

Bongo is the virtual classroom which comes with Brightspace. It was temporarily upgraded to Bongo Premium at the end of AY 2019/20 to cope with the additional demand for virtual classroom sessions at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, our subscription is back to the basic Bongo which can accommodate up to 50 students per session, allows you to poll and use a whiteboard but does not have a breakout rooms feature. If you don’t need breakout rooms and are comfortable using Bongo, you can continue to do so.

For more information about Bongo, refer to the Bongo staff guidance.

Webex Meetings and Training are the two new virtual classroom products replacing the legacy product Blackboard Collaborate. Both products can be accessed via a one-off integration in Brightspace. Webex Meetings is a virtual classroom which, at the moment, has all the features you would expect from a virtual classroom with the exception of breakout rooms. A breakout room feature can currently be used in Webex Training sessions. Please note, however, that Webex is working on adding the breakout room feature to Webex Meetings which means that soon Webex Meetings will be able to fulfil all your virtual classroom needs.

For a range of guidance on getting started with Webex Meetings and Training, continue to browse through this resource or visit the Getting Started - Webex Meetings pages as well as the Getting Started - Webex Training pages. 

We would recommend that you and your students run Webex via Google Chrome. Firefox and Edge will work just fine but we have found that using Firefox, for instance, you will need to complete a number of Captcha tests before being able to create a virtual classroom session while the same does not happen when you use Webex via Google Chrome.

Yes, if you have been using Webex Teams before and wish to continue to use it, you may do so via the Webex desktop app outside of Brightspace. You might find, however, that switching to Webex Meetings is not hard. As both products are part of the Webex portfolio, they are similar in look and use with the added bonus that sessions scheduled in Webex Meetings via Brightspace will automatically be added to the calendar on your module / unit / course homepage in Brightspace.

For support on using Webex Teams, refer to the Webex Teams guidance.

For more information on how to access Webex via Brightspace, please refer to this Introduction to Webex in Brightspace.

If you would like to invite an external participant to a Webex session, you will need to do so using their email address. Start by scheduling your session via the Webex integration in Brightspace. More information on how to schedule a session via the Webex integration in Brightspace can be found in this Introduction to Webex in Brightspace guidance. Once you have done so, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Go to the UHI Webex homepage.

Step 2: Sign in using your UHI email address (id@uhi.ac.uk) and password. You will find the sign-in button in the top right-hand side corner of the screen.

Step 3: Once you are signed in, select Meetings at the left-hand side.

Step 4: Locate the relevant meeting and click on its title.

Step 5: Enter the email address at the right-hand side under Who is invited? and press enter.

Step 6: The email is sent to the guest and their name should appear under the email box.

If you require to remove the guest for some reason later, then return to the booking and click the … next to their email address and click Remove. The guest will receive an email informing them the meeting has been cancelled.

Yes, you as well as the students can export an appointment for a Webex Meetings or Training session to your respective Outlook calendars. To ensure that any Webex session appointment can be exported, you should first make sure that you Authorize with LMS. More information about how to do this can be found on page 3 in the Introduction to Webex in Brightspace guidance.

Once you have done this, any Webex session you schedule will automatically also create an event in the Brightspace module / unit / course calendar. You can now download the calendar with its events and add it to your Outlook calendars via the Subscribe function in the Brightspace Calendar tool. For more information and step by step guidance, refer to this guide on How to export a calendar from Brightspace.

Yes, this is technically possible. When you set up your meeting you can make a recurrence selection (Never, Daily, Weekly, Monthly). There is one caveat to doing this - while you can edit any non-recurring meeting, i.e. change the time or name, you cannot currently do so with recurring meetings. 

The Webex Office Hour function is best suited to schedule 1:1 consultations with students. If you would like to meet with a group of students, schedule a Webex Meetings session instead and call it “Office Hours”.

For more information on how to schedule Office Hours via the Webex Office Hour feature, refer to the section on this topic on the Webex for Teachers help pages.

Any Office Hours that you set are common across all your modules / units / course where you enable the use of them. If a student books a slot on module 101, that slot is no longer available to students on module 102 or 103, for example.

If you would like to sign-post information for your students on how they can book an Office Hour slot with you, you can refer them to the section on this topic on the Webex for Students help pages.

No, students cannot schedule sessions using Webex Meetings or Training. They can set up a meeting for their group, however, using the UHI Webex homepage or via the Webex desktop app. There, one student can schedule the meeting and invite the other group members to meet about the project.

Currently there can only be a single host in Webex Meetings, it can be passed to another participant, but you would no longer be the host. You could, however, still run a screenshare or presentation if you have the presenter role. You can reclaim the host role at any time. We are awaiting further details on an update which will introduce a co-host role to Webex Meetings.

At the moment, you will be able to see nine participants (three rows of three participants each) on the screen in a Webex Meetings session if you are not using the whiteboard or sharing your screen. You can then scroll through the rest of the participants using the arrows which will appear on either side of the participant grid.

When you are using a whiteboard or are sharing your screen, you will see a number of participants at the top of the screen. In this view as well, you can scroll through the rest of the participants using the arrows which will appear on either side of the participant line-up at the top of your screen.

For more information on the different full-screen video layouts, refer to this page.

For more information on full-screen content sharing and video views, refer to this page.

For more information on how to switch between video layouts, refer to this page.

For more information on how switch between shared content and the speaker, refer to this page.

If you would like to prioritise seeing participants who have their videos switched on, you can choose to hide non-video participants. For more information, refer to this page.

Sessions run via Webex Meetings and Training can each accommodate up to 1000 students. Sessions run via Webex Teams can each accommodate up to 200 students.

In Webex Training, you and students will see the video of the participant who is currently speaking. The video will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.

For more information on sending and receiving video in Webex Training, refer to this page.

Yes, students can switch on their cameras in the main training area, but you need to give them permission to do so, go to Participant > Assign Privileges. Next, select Send Video under Training Session and save your changes. Participants will now be able to share their video.

Students cannot share their video in breakout rooms. Please note, however, that Webex is working on adding the breakout room feature to Webex Meetings which means that soon Webex Meetings will be able to fulfil all your virtual classroom needs and include video for all participants inside and outside breakout rooms.

Yes, you can share audio or video with audio in Webex Meetings sessions. For more information and guidance on how to do this, refer to the Share Motion and Video Content help page.

Yes, if you want to join a particular breakout session, locate the session in the Breakout Session panel on the right-hand side of the screen and click on it. It will now appear with a solid blue background. You can now join the session by clicking on the grey Join button in the bottom right-hand side corner of the Breakout session panel. 

Option 1 - End all breakout session

When you want students to return from their breakout rooms to the main session, you can end all breakout sessions. To do so navigate to the Breakout Session panel on the right-hand side of the screen or use the Breakout session drop-down menu in the menu bar of the Webex session and select End All / End Breakout Sessions. All participants receive a message that their breakout session ends in 30 seconds.

It is probably best to give students a bit more warning than 30 seconds to make sure they can finish up any discussion or other work they are doing in their group. To do so, you can broadcast a message to all breakout rooms. Locate the Breakout session drop-down menu in the menu bar of the Webex session and select Broadcast Message. In the pop-up window select to broadcast the message either to the Presenters only or to All Attendees and type your message. Once you have send the message, a pop-up window with the message will appear in the breakout rooms for the presenters or all attendees to see. 

Option 2 - Ask all participants to return from a breakout session

Instead of ending the session for students and forcing them back into the main room, you can also ask participants to come back themselves. To do so, select the Breakout session drop-down menu in the Webex session menu bar and select Ask All to Return. All participants in breakout sessions receive a message asking them to return to the main training session. They can choose to leave the session or continue. 

Again, it might be a good idea to use the Broadcast Message function at points during the breakout session and toward the end to let them know how quickly you want students to return. 

More information can be found on the Manage Breakout Sessions in Cisco Webex Training page.

Yes, they can. Once they are in the session, they will see the Breakout Session panel on the right-hand side of the screen. At the top of the panel, they will see two buttons - End Breakout Session and Ask For Help. Pressing the grey Ask For Help button will make a pop-up window appear on your screen, no matter where you are, i.e. in the main session or in another breakout session. In the pop-up window, you will find information on which student asked for help and which session they are in. 

Breakout Session panel on the right-hand side of the screen in the main session. Locate the breakout session you want to join and click on it. It will now appear with a solid blue background. You can now join the session by clicking on the grey Join button in the bottom right-hand side corner of the Breakout session panel. 

Yes, Whiteboards used by students in the breakout sessions can be shared back into the main session after the breakout session has ended. 

Please note that before a breakout session presenter can share content in the main session, you must end all the breakout sessions.

Once the breakout sessions have ended, Breakout session drop-down menu in the menu bar of the Webex session and select Share Breakout Session Content. Next, you will be able to select the name of the presenter whom you want to request to share breakout session content. Once you have chosen a presenter, select OK.

The last presenter receives instructions for sharing content from the breakout session in the main training session.

More information can be found on the Manage Breakout Sessions in Cisco Webex Training page.

For more information and some FAQ on recording Webex Trainings sessions, refer to this page.

Important: To make sure that recordings are available in Brightspace after the virtual classroom session, you must join the virtual classroom session you would like to record from within the Webex integration in Brightspace.

An extra step needs to be taken to record a whiteboard or the share file option.

Step 1: Click Share menu item, top left

Step 2: Choose Share My Meeting Window this shares the Webex meeting application

Step 3: Click the Share content button, bottom of screen

Step 4: Scroll down to New whiteboard and click Share. The whiteboard activity will now be captured in the recording.

Additionally, you can if you wish minimise your self-view image from the bottom right and you can also hide the menu bar at the top left to clean up what is being broadcast and recorded.

If you have joined the virtual classroom session you recorded from within the Webex integration in Brightspace, you will find the recording of the session in the Recordings Tab within Virtual Meetings. The Recordings Tab lists all recordings for meetings initiated from within Brightspace.

Yes, you can trim off the beginning and the end of the meeting in the recording if you would like. To edit the recording, you will need to access it via the UHI Webex homepage.

Step 1: Go to the UHI Webex homepage.

Step 2: Sign in using your UHI email address (id@uhi.ac.uk) and password. You will find the sign-in button in the top right-hand side corner of the screen.

Step 3: Once you are signed in, select Recording at the left-hand side.

Step 4: Locate the recording and click on it to open it.

Step 5: You can now follow the instructions on this page to trim your recording. 

Yes, you can. If you did not join your Webex session from Brightspace, the recording will be stored on the UHI Webex server instead. A link and password to the recording can be recovered from there by the host who originally set up the Webex session in Brightspace. 

Step 1: Go to the UHI Webex homepage.

Step 2: Sign in using your UHI email address (id@uhi.ac.uk) and password. You will find the sign-in button in the top right-hand side corner of the screen.

Step 3: Once you are signed in, select Recording at the left-hand side.

Step 4: Locate the recording.

Step 5: You can now share the link to the recording and the password in Brightspace.

The Webex Office Hour function is best suited to schedule 1:1 consultations with students. If you would like to meet with a group of students, schedule a Webex Meetings session instead and call it “Office Hours”.

For more information on how to schedule Office Hours via the Webex Office Hour feature, refer to the section on this topic on the Webex for Teachers help pages.

If you would like to sign-post information for your students on how they can book an office hour slot with you, you can refer them to the section on this topic on the Webex for Students help pages.