"Connect"ing University Campuses and Creating Educational Opportunities (Adobe Education Exchange Live 2012)

wo years ago, Loyola University Chicago was presented with a growing challenge to supporting online conferences, webinars, and online courses for 16,000 students across seven campuses in four countries. The university needed a cost-effective and reliable solution for delivering online courses, on-demand training sessions for employees, and webinars for the campus community.

In this session, attendees will learn about
- The challenges, lessons learned, and planning process for implementing an Adobe® Connect™ cluster in the higher education environment
- Best practices and next steps for implementing a solution on campus

Transcript

1. “Connect”ing University Campuses and Creating Educational Opportunities Two years ago, Loyola University Chicago was presented with a growing challenge to support online conferences, webinars, and online courses for 16,000 students across seven campuses and four countries. The University needed a cost-effective and reliable solution for delivering online courses, on-demand training sessions for employees, and webinars for the University community. In this session, attendees will learn about our challenges, lessons learned, the planning process for an Adobe Connect cluster in the higher education environment, as well as best practices for implementing a solution at their campus. Adam Smeets Manager, Digital Media Services Loyola University Chicago Blue Jays Room 1:20pm - 2:00pm | November 9, 2012 1 Wednesday, May 8, 13
2. Agenda “Connect”ing University Campuses and Creating Educational Opportunities - Initial Questions and Rationale - Implementation Roadmap - Sample Client Interactions with Connect - Licensing and “By the Numbers” - Best Practices & Avoiding Pitfalls - Loyola and Adobe Connect - Next Steps - Questions and Answers 2 Wednesday, May 8, 13
3. Work Group Initial Questions and Rationale 3 Wednesday, May 8, 13
4. Initial Questions 4 Meetings between campuses? Recording and playback of my meeting or session? Online open houses for our school to recruit students at a distance? Online office hours for my course and my students? Secure option for holding an online meeting? Meeting between the international campuses? Software training and workshops at a distance? Training modules for inclusion in other systems? LDAP integration to our current environment? On-site solution for data access and security? Low nancial impact on the institution and departments? Browser and client agnostic? Synchronous platform for online learning? Wednesday, May 8, 13
5. Rationale A work group was formed to identify a web conferencing solution that integrates online meetings, eLearning and webinars which is both secure and exible, as well as readily available corporate technical support and a large community of users. The following were requirements identi ed as part of the search process: • University-wide web-based tool to: - Facilitate meetings and webinars - Facilitate online learning initiatives • Assist with emergency response and communication/broadcast for teams • Minimal setup required on behalf of system users; • Support for high quality video sharing; • No specialized software required to participate in the session; • Strong integration in our current infrastructure, including authentication and policy driven security; • Vendor that has 24/7 support and response to system issues. 5 Wednesday, May 8, 13
6. Institutional Value We’ve heard a number of success stories within the Institution, but here are a few samples: • Enrollment Management Online open houses, international interviews and orientation sessions for each of their schools. • Institute of Pastoral Studies Recruit students across the world for their academic programs. • Alumni Office Meetings with AJCU schools regarding best practices and event planning. • The Center for Catholic School Effectiveness Facilitate meetings with other dioceses across the country. Financial Savings, including Global Reach for Recruitment Efforts 6 Wednesday, May 8, 13
7. Institutional Value • Using the recording function, meetings can be viewed at any time in the future or downloaded to your local machine. • Connect is extensible and exible to allow custom built applications and pods. • Custom reports can be written in XML, PHP and other coding languages, or using the GUI. Ease of Accessing Content and Developer Capabilities 7 Wednesday, May 8, 13
8. Institutional Value Security and Privacy of Meetings • All communications between Adobe Connect servers and client are encrypted using SSL. This enables secure delivery of data, voice, and video between the user and Adobe Connect. • Adobe Connect also has passcode-protected rooms and enhanced session management. Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users • Screen reader support, closed captioning support, menu navigation, keyboard shortcuts, and tab navigation ensure that impaired users can still attend meetings or deliver presentations using Adobe Connect. 8 Wednesday, May 8, 13
9. Institutional Value Bridge for Online Learning and Exchange • Remote support for clients through Digital Media Services – using “remote control” screen sharing. The Help Desk has also started using this function on a limited basis. • Adobe Connect was used to facilitate summer classes in coordination with Blackboard. • This tool is currently being used in Fall 2012 courses, as well as J Term and Spring 2013 courses. • Faculty are using this to hold virtual office hours with their students during traditionally scheduled “off-hours.” Ease of Accessing Content and Developer Capabilities 9 Wednesday, May 8, 13
10. Implementation Roadmap 10 Wednesday, May 8, 13
11. LDAP Server for Authentication Implementation Roadmap Stage 1 - Load and Infrastructure Testing Included staging a 250 concurrent client connections Load Balancer with Hardware-Based SSL Support Adobe Connect Hosted on Virtual Machine with Locally Hosted Database Internet Requests Learning Management System API Calls 11 Wednesday, May 8, 13
12. Microsoft SQL Server Database LDAP Server for Authentication Implementation Roadmap Stage 2 - Migration from Local to Production Database Export of Express Database from Test Virtual Machine Load Balancer with Hardware-Based SSL Support Adobe Connect Hosted on Virtual Machine Internet Requests Learning Management System API Calls 12 Wednesday, May 8, 13
13. Adobe Connect Physical Servers Implementation Roadmap Stage 3 - Con guration of Cluster and Preparation for Production Install Connect on Physical Servers, Test Ports and Verify Con guration Load Balancer with Hardware-Based SSL Support Internet Requests Learning Management System API Calls Microsoft SQL Server Database LDAP Server for Authentication Adobe Connect Test Instance for Upgrades Hosted on Virtual Machine 13 Wednesday, May 8, 13
14. Adobe Connect Physical Servers Implementation Roadmap Stage 4 - Migration from Local to Production Database Production Connect Cluster with redundancy, load balancing and SSL Load Balancer with Hardware-Based SSL Support Internet Requests Learning Management System API Calls Adobe Connect Test Instance for Upgrades Hosted on Virtual Machine Microsoft SQL Server Database LDAP Server for Authentication 14 Wednesday, May 8, 13
15. Adobe Connect Physical Servers Implementation Roadmap Stage 5 - Migration from Local to Shared Storage Storage quickly grows and is replicated on-demand across three servers Load Balancer with Hardware-Based SSL Support Internet Requests Learning Management System API Calls Adobe Connect Test Instance for Upgrades Hosted on Virtual Machine Microsoft SQL Server Database LDAP Server for Authentication Shared Storage (NAS Device) 15 Wednesday, May 8, 13
16. Adobe Connect Physical Servers Implementation Roadmap Stage 6 - Response and Triage As usage increases, responding to issues that arise from clients Load Balancer with Hardware-Based SSL Support Internet Requests Learning Management System API Calls Adobe Connect Test Instance for Upgrades Hosted on Virtual Machine Microsoft SQL Server Database LDAP Server for Authentication Shared Storage (NAS Device) 16 Wednesday, May 8, 13
17. Sample Client Interactions with Connect 17 Wednesday, May 8, 13
18. Sample Client Interactions with Connect 18 Wednesday, May 8, 13
19. Sample Client Interactions with Connect 19 Wednesday, May 8, 13
20. Sample Client Interactions with Connect 20 Wednesday, May 8, 13
21. Sample Client Interactions with Connect 21 Wednesday, May 8, 13
22. Sample Client Interactions with Connect 22 Wednesday, May 8, 13
23. Licensing and “By the Numbers” 23 Wednesday, May 8, 13
24. Licensing: Named or Metered? • Over 95% of 220 host licenses are currently issued to students, faculty and staff at the University. – Currently in a named organizer licensing model, facilitated by two categories of host license holders: 30,000 Foot View of Licensing Webinars & Online Meetings Academic Instruction • Available for Loyola University Chicago Students or Staff; - Faculty may request a webinar license, only if not used for online course instruction • Limited to 30 days of use, but renewable; • No training required, but online training recommended • Available for Loyola University Chicago Faculty (For Online Course Instruction); • Formal training, both synchronous and asychronous, required to obtain license; • Limited to one year of use, but renewable 24 Wednesday, May 8, 13
25. By the Numbers • Adobe Connect was rst used in a production environment at Loyola on June 23, 2010 to facilitate Information Technology Services’ Change Management process. – To date, 1,645 participants (including non-unique) have attended CM through Adobe Connect for a total of 573 hours of use by part. • Overall, the high-level metrics for Adobe Connect are re ected below: Overview Total Distinct Meetings Rooms Created Total Meeting Room Hours Storage Consumption Total Learner Training Completions Total Users (ID’s and Groups) 1,238 27,562 176 GB (and growing) 6,699 91,503 25 Wednesday, May 8, 13
26. By the Numbers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Meeting Rooms September 30, 2010 to November 2, 2012 - Datapoints hidden as a result of institutional data Total Distinct Meeting Rooms Accessed 26 Wednesday, May 8, 13
27. By the Numbers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 y = 0.4342x + 4.6134 R² = 0.7367 Meeting Rooms September 30, 2010 to November 2, 2012 - Datapoints hidden as a result of institutional data Total Distinct Meeting Rooms Accessed 27 Wednesday, May 8, 13
28. By the Numbers 0 300,000 600,000 900,000 1,200,000 1,500,000 1,800,000 2,100,000 2,400,000 2,700,000 3,000,000 Storage Size in MB’s September 30, 2010 to November 2, 2012 - Datapoints hidden as a result of institutional data Storage Consumption by Week 28 Wednesday, May 8, 13
29. By the Numbers 0 300,000 600,000 900,000 1,200,000 1,500,000 1,800,000 2,100,000 2,400,000 2,700,000 3,000,000 y = 7161.9x - 6289.6 R² = 0.2079 Storage Size in MB’s September 30, 2010 to November 2, 2012 - Datapoints hidden as a result of institutional data Storage Consumption by Week 29 Wednesday, May 8, 13
30. Best Practices and Avoiding Pitfalls 30 Wednesday, May 8, 13
31. Key Planning Documents from Adobe Best Practices and Avoiding Pitfalls Migrating, Installing, and Con guring Adobe Connect 9 Adobe Connect 9 Installation Checklist Adobe Connect 9 Web Services 31 Wednesday, May 8, 13
32. Adobe Connect User Community Best Practices and Avoiding Pitfalls http://www.connectusers.com 32 Wednesday, May 8, 13
33. Successful Web Conferences Best Practices and Avoiding Pitfalls In addition to the previous slide recommendations, webinars with the least amount of technical issues... • Utilize a hard-wired connection, rather than a WiFi or mobile connection; • Run the “Meeting Connection Test” with a new network location; https://connect.luc.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm • Read the training materials and documentation prior to their meeting; • Hosts and presenters run the “Audio Setup Wizard” utility prior to each meeting; • With multiple speakers, presenters and hosts utilize headsets or dial-in; • Disable screen savers and other power saving features; • Use document sharing, rather than screen sharing, for presentations; • Utilize no more than three active webcams and audio sources at a time (while outside of the University network). 33 Wednesday, May 8, 13
34. Am I ready to take an online course? Loyola’s Online Environments Online Learning Assessment Time & Work Levels as a Student Online Learning Skills & Tips Self-Assessment F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t O n l i n e L e a r n i n g a t L o y o l a U n i v e r s i t y C h i c a g o , v i s i t o u r w e b s i t e a t h t t p : / / w w w . l u c . e d u / o n l i n e . Welcome to our second module in a series of training documentation that will assist you in your online course. By participating in this module, it is assumed that you have… !  Passed the “Technology Check” located at: http://www.luc.edu/online/student_system_req.html !  Access to a computer and web browser; !  An understanding that learning environments are changing. At the end of this module, we hope that you will… !  Know how to identify a work environment that suits an online course environment; !  Have an understanding of the various types of online learning at Loyola University Chicago; !  Identify the various hardware and so ware requirements for participating in an online course; !  Identify the expectations of an online course and your instructor; and !  Determine if online learning and/or an online course is the right t for you. Welcome to “Ready for Online?” Host/Participant Preparations Best Practices and Avoiding Pitfalls 34 Wednesday, May 8, 13
35. Next Steps 35 Wednesday, May 8, 13
36. Next Steps Loyola University Chicago and Adobe Connect • Migration strategy for Adobe Connect 9 • Addition of Adobe Connect servers in other countries - Expanded international Campus support; - Load balancing for the infrastructure; - Failover for critical outages (weather, emergencies, etc.) • Voice Dial-In For Hosts, including a pricing model for the University • Potential for addition of a concurrent model environment - Segment traffic for academic (faculty) and webinar meetings (students and staff) 36 Wednesday, May 8, 13
37. Questions and Answers “Connect”ing University Campuses and Creating Educational Opportunities 37 Wednesday, May 8, 13