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

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.

  1. You will participate in meetings. See

    http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-adobe-connect-8/attending-a-meeting/

  2. 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.)

  3. 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 
    1. Click the Meeting button in the row at the very top of the page.
    2. Click on the name of the meeting.
    3. Click Edit Participants on the menu directly above the red bar.
    4. Click the Search button in the lower left corner of that screen and type in the first and last name of the partner.
    5. When you see the partner listed in the "Available Users and Groups" box on the left, select the name and click the "Add" button.
    6. 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

  1. 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!
  2. Make a comment in the chat when you
    1. join the meeting
    2. leave the meeting
    3. step away from the meeting
    4. return to the meeting
  3. 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.
  4. 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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