Teachers love the Meeting Owl. We’re not just saying that...we have proof. The Meeting Owl provides a simple, 360-degree solution that helps teachers provide a virtual classroom learning experience to students at home. Without having to chase a camera, teachers are free to move about the classroom and students from all corners of the classroom can be heard by those learning from home. 

One teacher from the ATLAS Academy at Tennyson Middle School had to say:

“The Meeting Owl Pro has been a gamechanger in my classroom. I teach students in three modalities at the same time. Live In Person learners, LiveStream Learners and Asynchronous learners.  With the Meeting Owl Pro, my students feel like they are part of the class regardless of where they are learning.”

Here are real reviews from teachers who use the Meeting Owl and Meeting Owl Pro to actually teach along with some advice and feedback. These reviews of the Meeting Owl come from a variety of classroom environments, student ages, and reviewers, from teachers to education technology specialists. 

Real Reviews of the Meeting Owl and Meeting Owl Pro by Teachers

1. Meeting Owl Does the Job

Amazon user Viv says, “This is very good for small meetings and did the job of making the online participants feel like they were part of the classroom” and rated the Meeting Owl 5/5 stars.

2. Legal Apple

Amazon user Legal Apple says, “As an instructor I am able to host a panel of several people in my office, from where I teach a class. The OWL is strong enough for a video deposition as well as a panel discussion with online observers. It is a great companion to Zoom, Team Meetings and Webex. Meeting OWL Pro works! The 360 degree camera is sharp and elevated (11 inches; 13 cm) above the table. It looks into my eyes and not up my nose. I do have a great nose, but I suppose that is my opinion! :) The sound is rich and sharp...The microphone cutoff is superb. No feedback. The microphone is more reliable than the microphone on my high end laptop. Earbuds and headsets are not always welcome by others or by the Court. OVERALL: The Meeting OWL Pro, while not inexpensive, is a seriously good investment in office equipment.” They rated the Meeting Owl Pro ⅘ stars.

3. Multiple Owls

Amazon and Meeting Owl Pro user DK says “We bought three Owl Pros and they have been a great addition to our remote teaching situation. The Owl provides a 360 degree image of what is happening in the classroom. I only wish they had more in stock so we could get them in the classrooms now.”

4. Love this Camera in My Classroom

Renee wrote on Amazon, “This camera is great for teaching virtual students with live in class students” and rated the Meeting Owl Pro 5 out of 5 stars.

5. Kansas State University

Kansas State conducted a thorough review of the Meeting Owl and shared the results of student and faculty feedback. Here’s what they thought:

• • “The 360 degree camera offers the best learning experience for remote students that I have witnessed in over 10 years of teaching. Clearly value-added.”
  • “Educational technology is in high demand. I appreciate the inclusion and research of the effectiveness of the 360 degree camera and how its use impacts the classroom experience.”
  • “These devices are necessary as we teach in the 21st century. More institutions are moving to video conferencing technology. My colleagues in Manhattan are jealous of the rich experience we are able to give students…”
    
    

6. A Scholarly Review from Duke

Duke University provides a thoughtful review with pros and cons of the Meeting Owl for educators. “At the top, there is a side-to-side 360-degree view of the room, and below is either one, two or three “active speaker” zones intelligently selected by the Meeting Owl...Overall, we found the intelligence of the camera to be rather good. Pros: Incredibly easy to setup and configure (under 10 minutes), 360 camera works as advertised, Good quality internal mics, Platform agnostic (works with Skype, WebEx, Zoom, Meetings, etc.)”

7. Idaho State

Idaho State University deployed 300 Meeting Owls to support hybrid learning during the pandemic. Blake Beck, director of Educational Technology Services and eISU says, “This technology will help us keep safe distancing and will allow for enrollment capacities to change, because it better allows students to participate in class and from a distance at the same time.”

History professor Justin Dolan Stover, who had used the Meeting Owl before the pandemic, says, “The teaching experience, once we got it installed and set up and applied, was really fantastic...And for the person zooming in from a distant site, if they raise their digital hand and want to speak, their picture becomes the center and that is captured through their own personal webcam. I don’t have to do anything, it is quite automatic. It is a pretty smart little device.”

8. Brainerd Baptist School

Bradley Chambers, the device manager for a private school, is constantly testing new products to find the best option for his school’s students and teachers. After evaluating options, they decided on the Meeting Owl.

“We decided to invest in Meeting Owl Cameras. Each teacher that has virtual students has one in their classroom hooked up to their Mac. The camera shows a 360-degree view, has a high definition camera, and eight microphones that will pick up from 12 feet away. We were using them during our back to school meetings, and we had a few teachers who watched from home, and they even joked they could hear conversations they usually wouldn’t have been able to hear from other tables. By combining Zoom, Google Classroom, and the Meeting Owl Cameras, we’ve built a robust solution that’s easy to implement, easy to use for both students and teachers alike, and is easy to maintain for the IT department.”

9. Blue Mountain Community College

Bruce Kauss, E-Learning Coordinator for Blue Mountain Community College, offered this review of the Meeting Owl in combination with Swivl, another hybrid learning solution. “Swivl and Owl technology has enabled BMCC to offer synchronous lab science classes across several distant campus centers. This increased our face to face class capabilities, enabling us to zoom lectures to campuses where commuting would be difficult, if not impossible on a regular basis, ensuring access to our centers across county lines, but has also transformed previously online only sections by providing students real time lectures and assistance during lab. The use of the OWL allows the students at distant centers to see the entire class as they continue to progress through the same assignment, and the instructor can see the entire class at each distant center to provide feedback where necessary. All together, this results in a more engaging and dynamic way to reach distant students.”

10. Improving Immersive Environments in Large Classrooms Study/Review

Oregon Community College Distance Learning Association (OCCDLA) conducted research comparing the Meeting Owl and the MXL AC-360z microphone for audio in how they make larger classrooms more immersive for remote students. After conducting their experiment, they concluded, “We ultimately found that the Owl Camera’s built-in microphone offered a similar capability as the MXL 360z and required less setup and room regulations. The Owl camera is more sensitive to room noise and reverb, but also offers a wider range for input level control. For video, the Owl camera proved to be more engaging to the viewer and easier to use for the instructor than a static conference cam. We like the fact that one device can do everything adequately and requires little to no setup. Our conclusion is that the Owl camera works great for improving the immersive experience, and is designed simply enough as an all-in-one solution for our needs.”

Thinking about trying the Meeting Owl Pro in your classroom? See how John Brown University uses the Meeting Owl in their classrooms.