Groupboard/Groupworld Newsletter — September 2019
This is an occasional newsletter which is sent out to all registered Groupboard and GroupWorld.net customers a few times a year. Please contact us if you would like to subscribe.
CONTENTS
1. Desmos graphing calculator now integrated into Groupworld2. Browser-based ping test for checking the quality of your internet connection
3. Video explaining how to troubleshoot common audio/video issues
4. News story about MyTutor using Groupworld to tutor disadvantaged pupils
5. Cluey Learning's online tutoring platform, using Groupworld
1. Desmos graphing calculator now integrated into Groupworld
We have recently integrated the Desmos graphing calculator into Groupworld. Desmos is the premier web-based graphing tool, and it allows multiple equations to be entered and displayed as graphs. When one user makes any changes, the equations and graphs are automatically updated on all other users' displays. The graphs are also stored in the Groupworld session recordings if the session is being recorded.
Desmos is currently included as a free feature for all hosted Groupworld customers. Customers using the Groupworld enterprise license will need to obtain an API key from Desmos, which may require a fee.
2. Browser-based ping test for checking the quality of your internet connection
We have created a browser-based ping test allowing you to easily check the quality of your internet connection in the browser. Packet loss and jitter can significantly affect the quality of audio and video conferencing.
There are currently no online browser-based ping tests which work reliably (pingtest.net used defunct Flash technology and is now offline, and packetlosstest.com reports false positive packet losses due to having a slow EC2 instance), so we created our own browser based ping test using WebRTC technology and Janus Gateway:
Let us know if you are interested in hosting this on your own server, and we will release the code as open source.
3. Video explaining how to troubleshoot common audio/video issues
We have created a new video explaining how to troubleshoot common audio and video problems in Groupworld:
Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified when we upload new videos.
4. News story about MyTutor using Groupworld to tutor disadvantaged pupils
MyTutor.co.uk are the largest online tutoring company in the UK, and have been using Groupworld as an integral part of their online tutoring platform since 2012. See this recent BBC news story about how they are delivering online tutoring sessions to disadvantaged pupils. The sessions are paid for by the schools, which receive funding from government programmes:
5. Cluey Learning's online tutoring platform, using Groupworld
Cluey Learning has customized our Groupworld product and integrated it with their own content navigator (on the left-hand side of the whiteboard), using React+Redux.
We are happy to share news stories and videos from our customers on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and add links on our customers page.
Get immediate updates on new features by following us on Twitter or Facebook:
Please contact us at info-contact@groupboard.com (or just reply to this email) if you have any questions or suggestions.