We need to be able to leave a background in place or at the very least change the color. It really does feel like I'm looking at slides in a PPT with my students. I'm trying hard to make them fun and visually exciting. Borders, backgrounds,GIFs and objects would be great. I'm thinking about the bank that I pull from in ManyCam. Maybe that would be a good place to take a look and replicate some of these features here.

I have never used Koala 3D, but can say the first time I went into Koala Go I felt excited and thought wow this is cool, but the rapidly discovered that, that was the classroom.....it was hard to know what to do, where to go and it made me feel really uncertain to move forward. My teachers have had a similar reaction but thankfully I was there to reassure them and guide them, not everyone has that. I agree that some sort of inviting, engaging welcome to students would be awesome so when we admit them to class they have a really fun activity or game to settle them into their time with their teacher

While you can upload an image, or create and lock in a huge sticky note to create a colored background, sometimes this is not ideal. There can be layering issues, and the cursor is always in the shape of the cross with arrows, because it sense the object and wants to give you the option to move it. Being able to change background colors and having some nice choices would work better and the page would be more stable then.

I would like to see a very clear roadmap of the plans and estimated completion dates of the features of the playground - specifically. I have already done A LOT of work in Google Slides, Jamboard and other apps. To be willing to invest the time (which equals money) into building out hundreds of lessons in new platform, there needs to be something that goes far beyond the norm. Koala 3D was just that. That said, I appreciate that stability for online lessons is probably the priority and that (perhaps) the task of obtaining consistent stability with Koala 3D ended up not being worth it to the developers at this time (with current limitations of students devices, varying internet speeds, etc.). I tried using Koala 3D with a few students and at least one did not have a good experience for reasons we never did figure out but likely due to her internet connection. So, all that to say I think I get why Koala Go and the playground are the focus, BUT I still do not know where the playground is going to go and how long it is going to take. This part is more important for me to know than the other (albeit very useful and cool features of Koala Go).

I agree, when I first gained access to Koala Go I froze, I didn't know what to do or where to start. I started to play around with it to get familiar with it but it definitely has a "cold" feeling to it like Jamboard. The students enjoy exploring Koala 3D upon login and between learning objectives. I like the playground idea and I look forward to seeing Koala Go evolve.

I agree with all of these comments, especially Erin Lenz above, and left a more detailed comment under the category of "Reaction to Koala Go". Koala Go feels just like using Jamboard--or close enough that I would not change. I love the 3D world of the original Koala.

I am spending WAY more time trying to make my GO classroom inviting than I had to do with 3D.

I agree - it feels like Google Slides right now. One solution to this would be to have students begin each lesson by meeting up with the tutor in the playground (maybe that’s where all sessions start/end?). This way, they have that initial excitement/3D feeling, but the benefits of GO (such as portability on devices) remain. Or to have an optional thematic border that frames GO slides, so it feels more connected to playground.

I agree with Erin. I will probably be using the playground as part of the classroom, simply to create more interest during the classes, so we can move around. (sticky notes, editing tools, ability to add images, etc would be really helpful in the playground) Keep up the good work though, we appreciate you hearing us, and all that you do!!!!