25 May 2020 - Digital teaching heiCONF-Audimax
Digital auditoriums for large lectures.
The new heiCONF variant heiCONF-Audimax is optimised for digital lectures. All data remains on the University servers. Data protection and room security have been further improved.
heiCONF-Audimax offers the following supplementary features:
- Up to 200 participants per conference (will be increased in the near future)
- Camera function limited to the presenter
- Automatic muting of participants upon joining the conference
Additionally, the already familiar heiCONF functions can also be used:
- Audio and video conferencing (only the presenters's video is activated and permitted)
- Chat
- Screen sharing
- Sharing of presentations, audio and video material
- Multi-user whiteboards
- Breakout rooms
- Conference-internal polls
- Individual configuration of rooms/auditoriums
How to use heiCONF-Audimax
The web-based service is now available to all university staff. A separate registration is not necessary. Simply log in to the linked site with your Uni ID.
heiCONF-Audimax is especially well suited to synchronous teaching, such as larger lectures with up to 200 participants. This way, lectures can be held safely and in compliance with data protection guidelines.
After logging in, you can create and configure up to five virtual auditoriums in which to hold lectures. Other participants can be invited to the lecture simply via a link. These participants require only the link to join the conference, an account isn't necessary. This makes conferences with both students and external participants possible.
Naturally, heiCONF remains available for more interactive teaching formats with up to 50 participants. In contrast to heiCONF-Audimax, several participants can activate their cameras simultaneously.
Telephone Dial-In
If you do not internet access or your internet access is slow, you can join a conference via telephone. To do this, you will need the telephone number for heiCONF and a PIN. Both can be provided by the meeting organizer, or they can be retrieved at the start of the conference, if the telephone dial-in is activated for the meeting room.
heiCONF is now safer than ever
Two updates have now been implemented to increase the security of heiCONF rooms and Audimax lecture halls: When a new room is created, a random combination of letters and numbers for the room link is generated completely independently of the account username. Until this change, one could, with a great deal of effort, guess the room names of certain users. This is no longer possible due to longer room IDs, which do not allow the user to be infered from the ID.
As a further improvement, the room access codes have been changed. These no longer consist of six numbers but of five words in form of some imaginary term. This new password complexity offers increased room security.
The current rooms codes will remain the same to ensure that no access problems occur for events that have already been scheduled.
However, we recommend using a new room with a new access code for meetings with higher security requirements.
Secure, data protection compliant online education on the University servers
heiCONF-Audimax, like heiCONF, is provided using heiCLOUD, the University's cloud infrastructure. This means all data is processed only in the University's server rooms.
If you have questions regarding the new service or run into any problems, please contact the URZ IT Service. We look forward to your feedback.