Adobe Connect FAQs

The principles for teaching online using Adobe Connect are the same as Microsoft Teams – the functionality is what is different.
Whereas Microsoft Teams is a meeting environment which can be used for teaching online, Adobe Connect is a more formal webinar environment with additional functionality. Staff can run a webinar and have total control over the room and their participants, such as being able to mute and enable individual microphones & webcams, giving presenting control to participants and organising break out rooms.

Staff can also enter the meeting room prior to the webinar and upload and prepare materials such as PowerPoint presentations and PDF documents. Like Microsoft Teams, once the webinar is running the host can display these documents, draw on an online whiteboard, share their own screen (e.g. to show a webpage or Moodle site) and enable live chat. Webinars can be recorded and accessed by contacting the TEL team who enable to sharing link which can be sent to participants for viewing after for revision or for those who wish to revisit topics covered in the session.

• Ask the TEL team to set up an Adobe Connect account and meeting room. Email tel@bath.ac.uk
• Agree a time, date and number of users for the webinar and contact the TEL team to put it in the online calendar. If there is already a webinar running at that time that takes us over the 50 concurrent user limit, it may need to be rescheduled.
• Send out the meeting room link to users, e.g. https://uob.adobeconnect.com/tbrunsdon
• After the webinar, contact the TEL team to obtain the URL of the recording.
• As a presenter, it is a good idea to log into the room beforehand to practice using the software, and testing things like your audio.
• If you are new to webinars, you might also want to talk to your colleagues about practicing it out on each other, taking turns being hosts and exploring the different options. See our tips for running a webinar.

The University of Bath has a licence which is managed by the TEL team. The licence allows 50 concurrent users across the University, so it is suitable for small-scale webinars only at present. It is possible to allow more users by adding a burst pack or expanding the licence, but there would be a cost to do this.

• Long face-to-face lectures may be ineffective if transferred straight to an online webinar environment. Think about which aspects of the lecture would benefit from being incorporated into a live webinar and which would be better delivered elsewhere, for example within a Moodle course.
• You may wish to think about “chunking” lessons into smaller 10 minute sections of delivered content, interspersed with discussion and other forms of media.
• Ensure that materials such as PowerPoint presentations are simple, easy to read and not cluttered. Consider font sizes, colours for text and background to ensure accessibility for all.
• Consider conducting a test webinar with colleagues to iron out any potential issues beforehand such as hardware failure and connectivity issues.
• Set out clear expectations for students and staff. This may be in the form of instructional documents about how to join a webinar and tips on good webinar etiquette. Again, this can be coordinated at programme or departmental level to ensure consistency.
• Presenters often switch between PowerPoint, web pages and live chat during webinars. Plan the session to take into account these technical aspects to ensure that the webinar runs smoothly.
• It may be ambitious to conduct a webinar with a large number of students. Instead of a one hour session to 100 students, it may be better to run four 20 minute sessions to 20 students.
• Webinars can be a stressful environment. It often helps to have a ‘virtual assistant’ who assists the presenter if participants have technical difficulties. They may also be needed to monitor the live chat as it is difficult to do this when presenting.
• If you need help from the TEL team or a Professional Service from outside of the faculty, ensure that requests are sent in advance and co-ordinated across the faculty so that we can distribute resources adequately.