Last week my partner and I took the opportunity to practice synchronous lesson delivery through Adobe Connect, which I found to be a promising and versatile digital lesson delivery medium. Please view our "testing" session here: http://edtech.adobeconnect.com/p2ogviatb48. Dana and I struggled with a few of the tools because my Safari web browser was not working well with the Adobe permissions requirements. Overall, however, we found it intuitive to utilize and navigate.
We enjoyed exploring various features of the software including screen sharing, the collaborative whiteboard, different "controls" of a host vs. participant, and screen arrangement/display. I can see how with this format there is an increased dynamic nature of a lesson, which allows students to maintain engagement instead of passively listening to a lecture, taking notes, and answering questions or working out problems independently. Teacher presence is strong (with voice, video, presentation, and notetaking), and a sense of community with other participants (classmates) is consistent throughout the meeting. As Yun Park and Curtis Bonk advised in their article Synchronous Learning Experiences:
Distance and Residential Learners’ Perspectives in a Blended Graduate Course, interaction and collaboration skills which are "critical elements influencing typical learning experiences within online courses" (p. 245) are present in a synchronous meeting using this platform.
I have never taken part in a lesson of this nature, but can see how it would be an interesting and appealing experience. In fact, I believe a student would be much less passive participating in this kind of learning than might otherwise be the case in a traditional classroom. At this point, I'm not quite sure how an Adobe Connect lesson for students below the middle school years would look, as there is definitely a fair degree of navigation and technical skill required by the participant. Nevertheless, the various modes of communicating and sharing images, files, etc. accommodates adolescent and adult learners with a multitude of learning styles. I look forward to exploring all of the options further as I make my more "official" asynchronous lesson.
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