Adobe+Connect

=Adobe Connect=

#2 - Adobe Connect
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/

Introduction; uses & benefits:
Connect, formerly Breeze, is one of a series of Adobe Acrobat products for online conferencing and eLearning. The simplest version, Connect Now, can be likened to a sophisticated chat room. Connect Pro can be compared to a classroom management system. The strength of these tools is that they facilitate collaboration and information sharing across distances. The software is based on Flash software which is resident on 98% of computers (Abobe, Connect Pro, 2008). Connect links people regardless of hardware or software incompatibilities. Even people who do not have access to the software have the ability to attend Connect web conferences.

The Connect series includes: a new, free version ConnectNow (1– 4 attendees), Connect Standard (1 – 15 attendees), and Connect Pro (1– 1,500 attendees). The standard version is a hosted service at a cost of $39 / month. Organizations can purchase the Pro version for between $1,500 and $16,000. They can subscribe to it at monthly rates or minute-by-minute rates, prorated for the specific numbers of users.

The Connect interface consists of a series of mini-windows, or pods. All of the Connect versions provide pods for attendee lists, chatting, note taking, file sharing, a whiteboard, and a webcam. Information formats that can be shared through Connect include application products, like documents and slide shows, video, and audio. Presenters can use voice over IP, activating attendees’ microphones so they can add their voices to the meeting, or set up telephone conferences. They can annotate documents or create new ones collaboratively in the whiteboard. They can dissect presentations slide by slide, annotate them, and update them collaboratively. Presenters and attendees can share their screens and grant control of their computers to each other.

Interaction between participants takes place online in a “meeting room” at a specified time. Recorded meetings or meetings with learning objects embedded for self-paced learning can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each meeting room has a unique URL and must be logged in with a username and password. Meeting room events are secured by encryption.

Roles are essential in Connect meeting rooms. The ‘presenter’ (in Now) or ‘host’ (in Standard and Pro) has the choice of customizing the layout of the pods in the meeting room and assigns roles to participants. He or she must be logged in to manage the meeting. In addition to customizing the meeting room, the host also has the option of accepting attendees and assigning roles in the meeting room. In ConnectNow, attendees can be either “participants” or “audience” members. Participants can share screens, files, chat, take notes, broadcast video and audio, and use the whiteboard. Audience members can only view and listen, download shared files and chat.

Figure 1: ConnectNow Screen Shot.

Connect Standard allows access by more users and provides additional capabilities as a web conferencing room than the ConnectNow version does. It features more pod options and more functionality in all pods. For example, chat room discussions can be saved and emailed. Screen sharing allows attendees to demonstrate websites in real time by sharing desktops. Attendees can be “participants” or can be upgraded to “presenters,” with more management control.

Connect Pro is advertised as an eLearning solution, functioning as a virtual classroom in addition to an online meeting room, or web conference. It synchronizes with other Adobe products in the Acrobat 9 suite, like Captivate and Presenter, allowing hosts to create and deliver reusable learning objects, such as slide shows with audio narration. Adobe maintains a content library to help hosts build learning objects. Pro allows for a series of simultaneous meeting rooms, including “breakout” sessions to provide more personal interactions between attendees at large meetings. It has improved file share functions. Meetings can be recorded. Pro also provides tracking for participant polls and test responses.

Pennsylvania State University has embraced Connect. It established a community of users and maintains a website with guides and tutorials for implementing Connect at http://meeting.psu.edu/ (Fitzpatrick, 2008). EDUCAUSE, http://www.educause.edu/, a non-profit organization to promoting information technology in higher education, utilizes Connect as the host for their web seminars, as of March 2008. Videos: Adobe Connect: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnect/demo/ Adobe Connect Pro: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/elearning/virtualclassroom.html?promoid=CCJTY

Weaknesses & challenges:
Connect is extremely vulnerable to Internet connection issues. Visuals broadcast through the program may not be synchronous between the presenter and audience members. The result can be a conference video that features halting, annoying incomprehensible content or a PowerPoint Presentation that lags behind the audio explanations.

An essential function of Connect’s collaborative capabilities is the ability to gain control of another participant’s computer in remote screen sharing mode. When in control, a participant can rewrite documents, change slide presentations, etc. It is a powerful tool for real-time collaboration. However, when a participant grants control of his or her computer, the controller has access to the entire computer: every program, every file.

It can be a very confusing interface for a presenter to manage. Several pods are open and must be managed simultaneously. Additional pods can be administered by the presenter in “staging areas” that remain invisible to attendees until displayed. Presenters have to take care to arrange the pods so that private administrative pods do not obscure public pods.

For visual learners, the default interface has an unattractive grey and pale green palate. Although that can be customized, that may only be an option for Connect Pro users.

Finally, Adobe does not take advantage of the rich opportunities for assessment in Connect. This is somewhat ironic as Adobe prides itself on its innovative online educational programming. (It has published a series of online education white papers.) Testing is an integral part of Connect Pro. Presenters can poll attendees to ensure that they are teaching what the students need to learn. Teachers can ask and students can answer test questions in an amazing variety of ways. But, the documentation, videos, and webinars do not address the concept that the collaboration Connect facilitates is, in and of itself, assessable.

Example of application in online classroom:
Last month, my husband James McGuire, had an extremely bad case of Chicken Pox. He teaches U.S. History II Advanced Placement. His students created group presentations to convey American life and events in specific decades in the Twentieth century. Our technology coordinator, Steve Adler, was able to set up a virtual classroom in my library with Connect Pro. The students uploaded (with help) their videos to the Connect site. During the online session, the students made their live introductions to Jim (who was online from home) and played their video presentations. Using the school webcam, he could watch the video and see the students watching the video in different pods. Using a microphone, Jim could speak to them in real-time. Although this example focused on the use of Connect in a blended learning environment, the discussion and video sharing capabilities would provide a very rich learning experience in an online class.

Figure 2: Connect Pro Screen Shot – AP History meeting

On Saturday, June 28th, I attended a two-hour session of the American Library Association conference, hosted by Dan Balzer and John Finklestein of Learning Times and other presenters, through Connect Pro. I was in New Jersey and the Conference was held in Anaheim, California. I was able to view the PowerPoint slides, listen to the presenters, and answer questions polling the audience on our backgrounds so that they could tailor their information for us. An online class utilizing Connect would be able to bring the world to the student and the student to the world. It would provide real connections to experts on any topic in any location.

Connect learning experiences and activities could be the basis of varied and significant assessments as evidence of student learning. In the examples above, student presentations could be assessed for the quality of the information researched and organized into knowledge, the use of media to convey the information effectively for other students, and the collaboration of the team members to produce media successfully as evidence of knowledge-building. Discussions could be assessed for the demonstrated quality of information understood by the student and depth of knowledge built between students collaboratively during interactions. Both presentations and discussions would invite performance assessments.

Learning objective:
Organize, Evaluate, and Assemble a PowerPoint presentation that identifies, examines, and illustrates the essential characteristics of one decade in 20th century American History.

Discuss the essential characteristics of one decade in 20th century American History and their impact on 21st century American life.