Conducting an Adobe Connect Webinar
image by sridgway
The October FLN f2f meet up was held in Kurri Kurri on October 31st. Throughout the day a number of sessions were conducted in Adobe Connect as weninars. Tony Loriman from Hunter Institute has asked me to provide an overview of the set-up I used to broadcast the audio and video so I thought I would do my response as a blog post.
Over the past couple of years I have experimented with a range of methods to conduct webinars, sessions where there is a combination f2f and online audience. This scenario poses a number of challenges.
- How do the online attendees hear the f2f speakers with good audio quality
- How do the f2f audience hear the online attendees when they are not wearing any headsets
- How do you get better video quality than a webcam into AC
- How do you make simultaneous audio recording for podcasting
Most people use Adobe Connect with a USB/Analogue headset, however there is no technical limitation to audio sources coming from range of inputs all mixed together into one feed and then fed into adobe connect.
Below is the set-up I have settled on and used successfully on many occasions.
Wireless Microphones
For large webinars a wireless lapel mic and a roving hand microphone for audience questions etc. is an effective and flexible solution to capturing good quality audio from all the f2f audience.
There are lots of commercially available wireless microphone systems available, so long as the gear you choose is a quality unit it does not matter which one you use.
I have opted for a Shure PG1288/PG185 Vocal/Lavalier Combo Wireless System. This has a wireless lapel mic and a hand held roving mic paired to a receiver unit. They sell for around $1000
Mixer
This your standard mixing deck into which the wireless receiver is fed, along with any other additional microphones you may wish to include into the mix. I will sometimes add a standard wired lapel mic for me so that I can talk to the online audience for audio testing or facilitation. Here I use a Sony ECM44B lapel.
The mixer allows significant control over the level of each microphone input and the mixed down final output, it is also easy to mute a mic if it is introducing noise etc.
We use a Behringer XENYX 1204 which retail for around $300 but any good quality mid range mixer would be fine.
M-Audio Mobile Pre-USB
It is possible to feed the output of the mixer directly into the Line-in of the computers sound card however there is one more component I add to improve quality and versatility to the set-up by adding a M-Audio mobile pre USB mixer to the final stage. This USB based sound encoder essentially replaces your computer sound card and does all the sampling in high quality 48 Khz. This bypasses any poor quality you might have in a laptop soundcard. The output of the mixer is fed into the line-in on the rear of the unit and it is chosen as the microphone by windows and Adobe Connect. This way all the wireless/wired mics connected to the mixer are fed into the computer. The nice thing about the unit is that it also provides a mixed output of the audio input and the computer audio output, perfect for a simultaneous podcast of the online and f2f participant audio. They sell for about $300.
Podcast Audio Recorder
I like to make a high quality audio of the adobe connect session for a separate podcast. I do this using a Maranz PMD661 solid state audio recorder plugged into the mixed down output of the mobile Pre USB. I love this unit however they are expensive @ around $1500. You can alternatively use any recording device including an ipod/Belkin combo or an Iriver etc.
Video Camera Input
As most of you would know Adobe Connect will only accept usb based webcams as input to the camera pod, so how do get a standard video camera to operate as the video source? Well through some experimentation I have found that cheap usb DVR video converters work a treat with a windows based computers essentially treating them as a webcam. These are typically utilised to digitise a composite video/audio source from a camcorder into a computer for conversion to DVD. You simply plug the video in one end and the usb connector on the other end into the computer and it’s treated as a webcam. This would also be an ideal way to have a POV camera feed into Connect. Ours is a Belkin DVR purchased from Dick Smith Electronics for around $129. I only had to install the software to set the input to PAL as it came set by default as NTSC, other than that it is treated as a standard USB camera by connect and other applications such as Adobe Prem Elements.
Examples
image by sridgway
Well that about it, it’s not for everyone and as you can see from the images in my flickr stream you do need top be a tad techie to set it up and troubleshoot any glitches but once you have the hang of it it’s not too complicated. It’s really the only way to ensure quality audio and video for a large online webinar, I have been to one to many sessions where they have used a head set mic held to the speakers mouth and the questions from the audience are inaudible to the online participants.
Here is a recording done recently using this set-up
Moodle & Adobe Connect Pro Integration
In response to TELLS interest in the possible purchase of a Moodle Adobe Connect Pro integration tool I went and reviewed the Adobe Connect presentation by RefinedData to the Adobe Connect User Group ACUGA @ https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a200985228/p97056867 last month.
The tool is potentially very useful and powerful tool for those using Moodle and Connect Pro together.
In summary this is what I got from the presentation.
- Seamless account sync from Moodle to AC so teachers in Moodle do not need to do any account management in AC ( this is Moodle driven so would be of most use to those using LDAP or equivalent single sign on)
- As accounts/courses are added and removed in Moodle as they are updated in AC (if they are shared) if you don’t use AC then moodle users are not brought across.
- Database integration so there is real time data update from Connect into Moodle eg. changes made to a meeting or library media content will be automatically updated in Moodle
- Moodle editors can link directly to AC content ie meetings, presenter & captivate movies, videos etc. into a Moodle course. Moodle will automatically identify the type of content, represent and track it accordingly
- The link is live and data about a users use of content ie time in a meeting, pages viewed in a presenter/captivate move or results of quizzes are sent back to Moodle and assigned against a users profile and grades if required.
- Meetings can be placed in the Moodle Calendar
My Conclusions
Overall I was impressed with the integration and for those who use both platforms extensively, especially AC content you wish tracked, it would be worth the investment.
If all you use in AC is one meeting room then it’s not worth the money, you may as well just have the url linked in Moodle and ask students to use an identifiable handle.
We would need to look into how much work is involved in installing the tool on both sides of the equation, AC and Moodle. Each institute would be responsible for the Moodle work but the AC side of things would need to be done by those managing the central install. We currently have multiple Moodle installs across the sate but one central install of Connect Pro, can this tool handle more than one Moodle database integration. Will it work across the DET firewall. All questions I am sure could be easily answered by RefinedData.
As the new DET Adobe licence agreement results in greater access by staff to Captivate, Presenter etc. combined with Institute PD the demand from Moodle users for the type of rich media that AC offers will increase over the next 12 months. This tool would be a great way to leverage the usability and trackability of this media in Moodle.
I think we need to liaise with all the TAFE NSW stake holders, especially those managing the servers, get answers to our questions regarding implementation and then move to purchasing. Perhaps RefinedData might consider a trial install to test with 2-3 institues to evaluate.
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