adobe connect

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have you ever heard about CONNECTED CLASSROOM?sounds familiar, isn't?

yes, it is actually about how technology can be used to connect students/learners to the outside context of their classroom. One of the tools that we can use to apply this kind of classroom is called 

This is a website where people can connect with others online in order to share information, to have a meeting, discussion, chat, or virtual classroom session. So, because this tool can be used for these purposes, it is parallel with the connected classroom concept.

So, today we are going to discuss this tool, ADOBE CONNECT!

before that, MAKE SURE you have installed the Adobe Flash Player software to make it work nicely =).

then what do you need to do next??

1. go to this page . Create an Adobe account.

 sad to say, it's not free (maybe because it's good =) hopefully)

you get the 30 days free trial package. If you find that it's worth paying, you can pay for it.

 

then you'll have to fill in your details

then, log in

accept the terms of service first

30 days. a date to remember

this is how your HOME looks like

if you click on create a virtual classroom, you will have to fill in these things.

  

 next steps

then, TADAAA!!

this is how your virtual class looks like. so get connected then!

example of online classes with Russell Stannard

then, if you go back to HOME and try to create another thing, eg: sharing content

 

you have to fill in these information first before you can share your content with others

So, back to the connected classroom thing, how can you get benefit from this tool and use it in your classroom?

1. teacher can make an extra online class session in the weekend or maybe during the holiday time. teacher will  give students the details of the class (date, time, and url) and just do an extra lesson with the students. Teacher may ask a few students to participate and give ideas either by speaking or writing in a chat box. *so what's good here is that both teacher and students don't have to come to the class to do an extra class. So, it saves time and space* 
2. teacher can ask students to do a homework like discussing a topic in groups by using  this. then tomorrow the students will be asked to present their discussion to the class.*this is also good because students will have opportunities to find more supports quickly as they can share the links, pictures, videos together with the member in their groups. so this kind of discussion is much more effective in my opinion*
3. in the evening, teacher can ask students to give feedback about the previous lesson in classroom (what they feel about the lesson, is it easy to be understood, how can they connect it with other things, sharing additional information about the lesson, and asking questions). *Here, students will more likely to participate more than they do in their classroom because it is not a face to face interaction. So here, students will be more relaxed and confident to express their opinion/maybe to express their criticism as well*

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT ADOBE CONNECT:

1. we can share content such as mp3 files, photos and others.
2. whilst having a virtual classroom or a meeting, the host can give permission to participants to view their video, audio and their screen, not only him/herself can share them
3. it's a new and different ways of learning. basically people will like new things the most and this will make them become more interested and eager to participate
4. it encourages collaborative learning in which students or people (of course between teachers as well) from all other the world can connect together, EASILY
5. input and information can be shared/discuss more lively with the supports from other parties (links to related websites, photos or pictures or videos)

BUT THERE ARE THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT IT:

1. it's not free! Why? Why?
2. it doesn't really help students in presenting skills (communicative strategies) because the interactions that happen is not really face to face
3. technical problem might occur especially when there are too many participants join the class. this will cause a problem where students might get disconnected with the class
4. quite difficult to be used, and require many things to be filled in before you can really start using /creating a room for online classes and etc
5. since it is not a face to face interaction, teacher can't really know what the students are doing (maybe they are doing other things and pretending to join the class)

That's it for today!! thanks Russell for introducing this tool to us! =))

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