Adobe Education article

Shrinking the World with Adobe Acrobat Connect

As an Educational Technology Programs Specialist working in the Department of Educational Technology for the School District of Palm Beach County, in Florida, I support administrators, staff, teachers, and students on a variety of Adobe® software products. One of my department’s roles is to work closely with our International Spanish Academy (ISA) schools, helping them use Adobe Presenter and Acrobat® Connect™ (formerly Macromedia Breeze) to communicate with other ISA schools.

John I. Leonard High School, in Greenacres, Florida, was our first ISA school to engage in a live dialog with I. S. A. Atenea High School, in Madrid, Spain. My manager and our district’s ISA teacher were both in Madrid at the time. Our students loved seeing their teacher on-screen. Their reaction was very emotional; it was a real treat to witness.

After formal introductions, these high school students from opposite sides of the world began speaking to each other in English and Spanish. Everyone became more comfortable using the technology as the conversations continued. Soon, they were speaking as naturally as if they were together in the same room.

Our ISA project also includes middle and elementary schools. I help them prepare online introductory presentations using Adobe Presenter. One day my manager asked me if I would go to San Juan de la Peña, an elementary school in Jaca, high in Spain’s Pyrenees mountains, to train teachers on using Acrobat Connect. I would also manage the technology required for a successful first meeting between our schools. Of course I agreed.

A few weeks later, I arrived at San Juan de la Peña along with the New Horizons Elementary School principal, Betsy Cardozo, and the ISA project manager, Edwin Arrieta. It was Monday morning. The live meeting was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, plenty of time under normal circumstances. But neither I nor our principal speak much Spanish and, as it turned out, neither the San Juan de la Peña principal or technology support person spoke much English. That slowed things down. But their dual-language teachers and Edwin, our project manager, bridged the communications gap.

We immediately began instruction in the Connect tools our guests would be using in the electronic meetings. Instruction sheets explained how to use the various pods. Edwin translated them into Spanish in a second column. The program’s ease of use was evident throughout the training. We were able to teach the basic functions in a few hours, leaving ourselves time to practice the next day (Tuesday) before setting up for the live meeting. The school was also scheduled on Tuesday to upgrade its connectivity from a satellite feed to an ADSL line. This would provide the bandwidth needed for audio and video to pass quickly between the two countries.

Well, if you have ever used technology for a presentation you know something is likely to go wrong; the trick is to make it work to your advantage. Our Tuesday practice session was displaced while the school’s ADSL connection was installed. We moved across the street to the high school and found we could not access live and recorded meetings. Paco, the San Juan de la Peña technology support person, quickly pinpointed the cause as a fault within the regional Internet filter system. After some discussion he was able to create a temporary solution and, eventually, a permanent set-up for the school. We lost a lot of our practice time but everyone seemed very comfortable using Connect.

We spent Tuesday evening setting up the school library for the meeting, designating a laptop as the main communication computer, complete with a web cam and microphone. A projector would let the audience see everything; a second laptop with a web cam focused on the seating area. After more than an hour of testing, we all felt very ready for the next day’s meeting.

But, as I said before, something will always go wrong. New video and audio bandwidth issues arose. The technology team, after troubleshooting the problem, assured us it would not cause any trouble when our meeting started at 3:00 that afternoon.

The meeting began with exceptional pomp and circumstance. Jaca’s mayor, the regional education director, school principals, and many other dignitaries were introduced, as were representatives from our school district and my department. Both schools valued the interaction so much, and had invested so much time and effort to make it happen, that everyone wanted to demonstrate their commitment to success. The Adobe Connect system worked its magic and there was palpable excitement in the room as people on both continents saw and spoke with each other for the first time.

Once the introductory formalities were over, the students introduced themselves. They asked each other questions about books they like to read, and entertainment and sports they enjoy. As a finale, the students used the Connect whiteboard to collaboratively draw a picture and label the parts in both languages. Copies were printed and both crowds loved it.

We recorded the program and provided the link. After the formal presentation ended, the Jaca students got some additional practice using the Connect whiteboard and web cam. They were having so much fun they finally had to be chased out 30 minutes after school had ended for the day.

Since that first event, teachers at the two schools have continued meeting online to plan future get-togethers. Students, too, have been able to meet and use the whiteboard in a less formal setting. The schools have planned at least one more joint project using Connect as the primary communication and collaboration tool.

You can view the recorded presentation here: http://breeze.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/p21625309/.