Adobe Connect is an online meeting service that is a great tool to use when you cannot physically meet your students on campus for a class session, office hours, or small group collaboration due to illness, weather, or travel. Adobe Connect allows you to host all students in a course in a web meeting where all participants can communicate and collaborate with one another regardless of location.
Class sessions designed for small group collaboration can also be achieved with Adobe Connect through the use of breakout rooms. As the instructor and host of the web meeting you control which students participate in the various rooms you create. You have the ability to create up to 20 different breakout groups. In the breakout rooms, participants can speak to one another, use the chat pod, collaborate on the white board, and share their computer screens. You also have the ability to “visit” each of the breakout rooms to check on progress, answer questions, or dispel any misconceptions. After the breakout ends, you can return all participants to the main room for them to report on what they gleaned from the breakout collaboration.
If you are already using Adobe Connect, please view the video below to get more information on how to incorporate breakout rooms into your web meeting sessions.
Instructors who do not have access to an Adobe Connect account are encouraged to speak to their discipline’s department chair to secure a departmental account. More information about Adobe Connect can be obtained here.