Using Adobe Connect
Computer setup
For our
synchronous sessions a large screen or dual screens will be handy, so
you can both see and read a good sized copy of a what I am distributing
from my machine and work in your own environment at the same time.
My personal setup is a laptop, using its screen and also
attached to an external monitor. Such a setup is not required,
but it can definitely be handy.
In any
case you need
- fast, reliable Internet access, best
ensured with a wired, not wireless connection
- a generally quiet place!
- earphones on the whole time you are in the meeting
- microphone either built-in to the computer or plugged
in separately
- class URL: http://connect.luc.edu/comp150
Details on Adobe Connect
The Adobe Connect website has lots of
help videos. The ones below are most important for the way we will
use the software. I make comments after most links, explaining extra
related material that was not included in the video.
- You will participate
in meetings. See
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-adobe-connect-8/attending-a-meeting/
- Either in class or in a programming
pair, you are likely to want to show an application on your
computer to others. It is important to see this in the
video, because participants cannot see the process
of the presenter setting this up in Adobe Connect! You can see
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-adobe-connect-8/sharing-screens-and-applications
The
video does not show it, but the very first time you try to show your
screen to everyone, you get prompted to download a plug-in.
Accept it, and after 10-15 seconds, it should be done, and you can go
on with sharing your screen. Once you have the plug-in, this step
does not need to be repeated.
You have to stop sharing your screen
before someone else can start showing theirs. To quickly switch into
showing your screen, you should have the application you want to show
already running in the state you want to show, and then you can
quickly select it . If you have a large enough screen or two
screens, you can have your application running beside the
Adobe Connect window.
Do not assume everyone has as big a
screen as you. Make your application windows large enough to display
what you are showing, but not be enormous. Otherwise your winodw will
be squeezed to fit on the screen of others, and your text is likely to
be hard to read.
The top left of the share pod shows
whose computer is being displayed. If somebody else is controlling
the keyboard and mouse, that is also indicated in the upper left.
(We won't use that feature much, I expect.)
- For working with a partner outside
of class, Comp 150 has a special deal: you are a host.
You will want to create a meeting of your own. I
suggest each student name a meeting with your username in the format
Comp150-yourUsername, so if I were creating a personal course meeting
space, it would be Comp150-aharrin. See
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-adobe-connect-8/creating-a-meeting/
In Adobe meeting home http://connect.luc.edu/, after logging in
and creating your meeting, the home screen may have the "My Meetings" tab highlighed. From here you can go to a meeting.
You need to edit
the meeting if you want to make your partner automatically be a
presenter. In this case it is confusing, but instead of the
"My Meetings" tab, you need to
- Click the Meeting
button in the row at the very top of the page.
- Click on the name of the meeting.
-
Click Edit Participants on the menu directly above the red bar.
-
Click the Search button in the lower left corner of that screen and type in the first and last name of the partner.
-
When you see the partner listed in the "Available Users and Groups" box on the left, select the name and click the "Add" button.
-
Set the partner's role using the "Set User Role" button at the bottom
right of the "Current Participants" box; the partner will be set as
Participant by default, but Presenter makes more sense.
To remove an old partner, select the
student's name from the Current Participants box and click the Remove
button at the bottom of the box.
Other Comments on Using Adobe Connect
Sound and Noise
You disrupt the meeting if there is much
background noise. There is automatically background noise, from
feedback from everyone's conversation, if you are not wearing
earphones. Have them on before
you join the meeting. If you have to get up and move during the
meeting, and take off your earphones, be sure to turn off your audio
first.
Finding a quiet place is very
important. It is most convenient to leave audio on for all
participants. If you are forced to be in a frequently noisy place,
then you can turn your audio off, but then it is annoying to switch
it every time you want to speak, and if you forget, we can’t hear
you or we get disrupted by a racket!
As soon as you enter a meeting, you see
the Meeting drop-down menu in the top left. Select the drop-down
option Audio Setup Wizard and follow it all the way though and
make sure your speakers are feeding your earphones correctly and your
microphone is functioning at a decent volume.
The class is large enough that the
raise-hand signal at the middle of the top of the window is a good
thing to use. I find the icon that then appears beside your name much
less
obvious than a real hand that you raise in a conventional classroom,
so if it seems pretty likely that I am just missing your signal, you
might interrupt to say something like “My hand is raised.” If
you are in a small breakout room, use the hand to ask me to join your
group. (Otherwise I can’t hear you or see what you are doing.)
You get to control the overall speaker
volume on your machine. If everyone sounds loud, adjust your system
volume. If one isolated participant sounds loud (or soft), ask that
person to adjust his or her microphone volume.
Crashes
Adobe Connect has bugs. It freezes or
crashes occasionally. If that happens, quickly close the meeting window
and
reenter the meeting URL in your browser. It should not take long, and
you should not
miss much. Unfortunately this can also happen with the instructor. Be
patient.
The Notes Pod for Passing Code
I plan to have you all as presenters or maybe hosts in my meetings,
which means we can all write in the same Notes pod. We could use
a Notes Pod for coding. Maybe we will occasionally, but the
editor is not designed for Python, and you cannot directly execute the
code. A more likely use for one Notes pod is this:
Someone who has been coding and maybe running code while others watched
and commented, can quickly trade off, by select all the code, copying
and then pasting into the Notes pod. Others can then select
all in the notes, copy, and paste into their own program editor.
Then another person can let everyone else watch as s/he adds the next
steps, with oral help from the rest of the class.... This
approach is certainly a possible one for pair programming in a meeting
of your own. We will practice.
Meeting Ettiquette
- Take the steps discusssed above under noise to minimize
background noise. Background noise is cumulative. With a
full class it can be a real obstacle!
- Make a comment in the chat when you
- join the meeting
- leave the meeting
- step away from the meeting
- return to the meeting
- Get used to the sequence for showing your screen, so if we want
to switch and see your screen, the transition to what you wanto show us
is quick.
- Though a meeting with audio can convey more than pure
text/IM/Chat, still remember that without full visual feedback, you can
be more easily misinterpreted than in a face to face meeting.
Think about what you say and how to be constructive. But don't be shy!
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