For this final blog assignment, please discuss your reaction to using the Connect Pro videoconferencing program to hold virtual class meetings.
In your comments, consider the following questions:
- do you feel that this method of instruction was useful or not,
- what types of problems need to be addressed if we plan to hold these sessions again,
- do you have any ideas about what could be done to improve these online sessions,
- would you be interested in participating in more of these kinds of sessions in future courses,
- would you be interested in enrolling in a course where this type of online conferencing system was used for the majority of class sessions, and
- do you have any other ideas, suggestions or comments you would like to discuss?
5 comments:
The online class (Week 9) using ConnectPro (by Adobe) seemed to really come together for the class, aside from some minor hiccups. I think that was likely the first time using it that I really felt like academic potential really shone through.
One of the most important issues that I think became evident is the need for a decent (fast) Internet connection; it may be that many of our problems were bandwidth related.
I felt that the experience was useful, and if a class is to be taught using this a primary mode of delivery, then there should be a few orientation sessions (required) for participants to become familiar with the environment.
I was intrigued just enough to be interested in using this again in future classes; I think the idea of another hybrid or even completely-online class using this as the learning environment would be both useful in our discipline and interesting to learn in. There may even be other apps that are better, but offer similar services.
I really enjoyed this experience. I also noticed that time seemed to fly by during our last class session online, though much of it came off as exciting as we navigated the various learning tools together.
I felt that this method of instruction would be very useful for college courses. Unfortunately, I could not get the camera to work so I did not get to experience that part but it did give me the opportunity to decide that even students that do not have cameras/mics could benefit from a class setup in this manner but of course not to the same degree as those that are using cameras and mics. There were a lot of times when some people could not hear some people but others could and this could potentially be a disaster especially if a professor or speaker was doing the majority of the talking and was not paying attention to comments from the students saying that they could not hear. I don't think the camera is as big of a deal as the mic problems and feel that these problems should take priority. I think it would be interesting to have an online class that meets using Connect Pro but again, there were many instances when there were audio problems and I feel that these would need to be figured out in advance. Personally, I always prefer face-to-face classes over any type of online or hybrid class but that does not mean that I would object to a class using videoconferencing.
I thought the online class using ConnectPro was very useful and I would like to use it again. I agree with Shawn that with more use, the hiccups will go away.
If the sessions were held again, I agree with Shawn that an orientation should be held to cover all of the uses of ConnectPro. I also think that the group of participants should be limited to our class size or less. Besides bandwidth issues, I thought that some of the audio issues could be contributed to multiple participants attempting to speak at the same time. This might be one of the details to cover in an orientation. How soon do you respond? Is there an order of response?
I would love to participate in this type of session/class in the future. I liked the fact that I was able to see everyone and have the option of typing messages and viewing the presenters screen when needed. The immediacy of the online comments and responses appealed to me. It also allowed for realtime answers to questions or comments from class members, as opposed to posting on a blog and checking it periodically.
I think that using ConnectPro is a great way to learn and share information.
I also think using the Connect Pro was useful for meeting online like this. I think if you want to use this program (or other videoconferencing program, for that matter), we should have some kind of a trial session to get everybody familiar with the program and check everyone's connection and equipment. Otherwise, people who are not comfortable using the program or people who have problem seeing/hearing would get very frustrated.
From this experience alone, I would not be interested in participating in the class that uses this method for the majority of the sessions since there are still some limitations and uncertainties involving using this kind of program. However, I think it has potential to be a good tools for online classes
It is obvious that Adobe Connect has some limitations. I think it can be used under the right conditions. I use it for virtual office hours, and the week after we used it in class, I used it with my developmental math class. We didn’t experience all the problems that we encountered in our CUIN 7376 class. The day after our class session on connect, I call Adobe technical support and shared with them some of the problems that we encountered. They sent me a “best practices when presenting guide”. I will highlight some of them.
Internet Connection/Audio:
1. Directly connect to the fastest internet connection available
2. No wireless, no exceptions! Wireless connections frequently disconnect, so in order to ensure no interuptions, use a hard-wired connection.
3. Shut down Email/IM and any programs NOT being used for the presentation.
4. Shut down any VPNs.
5. If using a telephone for audio, use a handset or quality headset, no speakerphone as it will cause voice fluctuations and background audio will be picked up during the recording.
Presentation:
1. Have programs that you are screen sharing open to the appropriate window and ready to demonstrate - avoid launching and logging into programs.
2. Turn off computer "sleep" especially if a re-log in is required.
3. Optimize room bandwidth to DSL, regardless of your setting -
1. In a Acrobat Connect Meeting, at the top of the screen click on MEETING/Optimize Room Bandwidth/DSL
4. Room screen resolution recommendation = 1024 x768. Please note if you are using a very large screen, the optimum settings may be 800 x 600. It's best to experiment prior to the actual meeting.
1. In a Acrobat Connect Meeting, at the top of the screen click on MEETING/Room Screen Resolution/1024x768
5. Optical Moderation - Avoid quickly moving cursor's, polls, windows, anything viewable to participants. This could be a poor experience for some of your participants who may be on really slow connections and/or computers.
6. Pre-load and rehearse your presentation! Make sure that all animations, videos, and screen shares are working as you anticipate PRIOR to your live meeting.
After viewing this list of best practices, I would be inclined to give Adobe another try as we used it the other with the above modifications. I think the use of programs like Adobe Connect will bring that much needed teacher-student contact to online delivery methods. I wouldn’t take a course that mainly use this approach to online delivery because some of the things that are cited in the best practices listed above may not be things that can be accommodated by the student, teacher, or technology that is available to both.
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