Using Adobe Connect

At first, I felt overwhelmed about using Adobe Connect because it is a technological tool that I was completely unfamiliar with and had never used before. Even though I reviewed how to use it via the forum posts before class today, I still remained apprehensive about using it. I do think that by being in a group and putting our heads together to figure out how to use Adobe Connect definitely helped me understand the program more. After figuring out the basics, it seems that Adobe Connect is relatively easy to use, once all of the programming issues are solved, such as getting the audio and video to work. I personally would only be comfortable using it in the future if I was a participant in an online chat, like what we did in class today. Since I was in the TTL with two other groups, I was able to explain to another group how they could use Adobe Connect to present their project. But I definitely would not feel confident enough to run my own online session unless I was shown how to do it. Also, I would not recommend using this in a middle school or high school classroom between a teacher and his or her class because I find it would be challenging to keep students on track. But, one way I do think that Adobe Connect could be used for in an English class would be potentially connecting with an author of a poem, short story, or novel that we were reading in class. That way, the author could possibly read something to the class or answer questions regarding the book or poem we were reading at the time. Using Adobe Connect in this manner would enhance students learning because they would generally not have the opportunity to meet one of the authors of a book or poem they were assigned to read. Also, the teacher could monitor his or her students involvement with the program because he or she would be present in the classroom with them, listening to the author as well.