FAQ

Listed below are some of the common questions that come up year after year.

The virtual college tour is two day event featuring Ohio's colleges & University. Each hour is dedicated to a College or University to showcase their institution and answer questions by the students.
 * How long is this program?**

Schools registered for this program are asked to stay connected the entire conference. If students are not present for a speaker, we ask that the site stays connected but on mute so they do not disturb the conference. Schools may connect for only one of the two days of the program. We ask that sites only participating in one of the days give us notice prior to the start of the program.
 * Do we need to participate all day or both days?**

Yes! We ask that each presenter limit their session to twenty minutes to allow the remaining time for Q & A from the sites. If we have a large number of registers sites we will select sites to be **active** participants with the remaining sites as **view only** participants. These sites are reordered each session giving each site the opportunity to be active sites for at least one of the presentations. View only sites will be provided an email address to send in questions that would be read on their behalf. //**Last year all of the sites were active for all presenters**.//
 * Is this interactive?**

No - Many schools rotate students in and out of the program throughout the day. Many sites miss a session due to lunch, assemblies and other schedule issues. We ask that sites stay connected even when they do not have students to reduce tech support or disruptions. At the beginning of each session we will do a role call of sites to make sure all of the active sites have students to participate.
 * Do my students have to stay the entire time?**

Each year we average between 15 -25 schools enrolled in the Virtual Collage Tour.
 * How many schools are involved?**

Yes, we charge $50.00 for a single day or $75.00 for both to non partner sites to help offset the cost of planning and organizing the event. When compared to the cost of similar programs of $50-150 for an hour long program this is actually quite low for a two day event.
 * Is there a cost to participate?**

The cost to participate is for both days. We do not break the program into a per day cost.
 * Is the fee for one day or both?**

You must have an H.323 compliant videoconferencing system to participate. Sites will be connecting through eTech Ohio's K-12 videoconferencing network. Sites are welcome to test using our test unit at 208.108.92.151 or contact eTech Ohio to test with them directly at (877) 843-3640
 * What do I need to participate?**

We are using eTech Ohio's Videoconferencing Bridges to connect each of the sites. We do have some control over the bridge, but we ask that sites call them for technical assistance (877) 843-3640 to speed up the connection process.
 * What if I have technical issues?**

1) Test calls - prior to the conference do a test call outside of your network. You are welcome to use our test unit at 208.108.92.151 or contact eTech Ohio to test with them directly at (877) 843-3640 2) Have your system turned on early - Every year we get calls asking why they are not connected to learn that their system is not turned on or connected to the network. 3) **MUTE YOUR MICROPHONE** - Please keep your microphones on mute during the program until you are called on. The sites want to hear the university not your students. If you have to reconnect to the bridge please have your microphone on mute before you get connected.
 * What can I do to help make this a success?**

Sorry, Sykpe, ooVoo, camafrog and other instant messenger type products are not H.323 compliant at this time and are unable to connect to the eTech Ohio bridges.
 * I have Skype, can I participate?**