New Camera Device Brings in-Room Whiteboard to Virtual Classes

Videoconferencing company Owl Labs has launched Whiteboard Owl, a camera device that transmits any in-room whiteboard to online or hybrid classes.

The Whiteboard Owl camera can be mounted on a wall, ceiling or tripod, up to 16 feet away from a physical whiteboard. By placing magnetic Whiteboard Tags on the corners of the board, users can share the whiteboard content with virtual participants; flipping the tags over seamlessly toggles between the whiteboard view and the meeting view. Features include:

  • Whiteboard Enhance, technology that boosts image clarity and reduces shadows to improve visibility;
  • Speaker Transparency, which automatically makes a presenter's image transparent when they step in front of the whiteboard, so that content is not obscured;
  • Whiteboard Capture, which saves high-resolution whiteboard images in real time, to allow attendees to view, download or zoom in to content at any time;
  • WiFi-enabled software updates; and
  • Compatibility with Zoom, Google Hangouts, Slack, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams and other popular videoconferencing platforms.

Whiteboard Owl is priced at $599, plus a $10 monthly subscription fee for software and updates. For more information, visit the Owl Labs site.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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