Showbie has partnered with video conferencing tool Whereby to allow teachers to launch video chats within Showbie. You can launch a video chat in student assignments, the class discussion, or in groups.
Having troubles starting a video chat? Check out this link.
Note: In groups, only group owners can start a video chat.
In this guide, we'll show you the steps to start a video chat in the class discussion.
Start by going into the class discussion, group or assignment you’d like to start a chat in:
At the top-right corner, tap on the video icon.
A new window will open that quickly explains how video chat works in Showbie:
When ready, tap Start Chat.
You'll then be taken to a new window that opens the Whereby page:
Make sure to tap Request Permissions to allow access to your camera and microphone.
Once started, the video chat is ready!
If you haven't yet, make sure your camera and microphone are turned on. This can be found at the bottom of the window.
When you need to end video chat, tap the Leave Chat button at the top-left corner. You'll then be prompted to choose a couple options:
Leave and End will close the video chat for everyone
Leave and Keep Open will close the chat for you while keeping it open for everyone else. When using this option, we recommend that at least one co-teacher is present to moderate the video chat. If there are no teachers, video chats will automatically end after 1 hour.
Video chats last for up to 1 hour, and then will automatically end. This is to ensure the safety and security of the chat. If you need a chat for longer than one hour, you can always start the video chat again and participants can rejoin.
If a video chat is running, any co-teachers or students who haven't joined yet will be able to join. They'll see a post similar to this:
See our Collection of Video Chat Articles to learn more about how video chat works.