Tutorial room
The Tutorial room is a feature in some of our courses that use Adobe Connect for synchronous tutorial sessions. If your course uses this technology you will be informed.
Contents
- System requirements
- Opening the Tutorial room
- The main meeting area
- Roles in the Tutorial room
- Pods
- Summary
The Tutorial room is an online meeting space accessed via your web browser. It enables synchronous communication between group members using video, audio or text, as well as document sharing and annotation. The Tutorial room is used to host seminar-type sessions where you will be able to discuss and explore topics with your tutor and other members of your group.
System requirements
The Tutorial room uses Adobe Connect software. This requires version 10.1 or above of the Adobe Flash Player plug-in. You can check which version of the Flash Player you have installed on your PC by clicking on the Adobe Flash Player webpage and checking the ‘Version Information’ box. If you don’t have the Flash Player installed or the version installed on your PC is not the most recent version, you can download the latest version from this page.
For detailed system requirements (especially Mac users) see the Adobe Connect client system requirements page.
Please note, to use Adobe Connect, students and tutors only require a browser plug-in you do not need to download or purchase the Adobe Connect software.
To be able to hear other group members you will need speakers, or headphones if you are in an office or other public place, connected to your PC. In order for others to be able to hear you speaking you will need a microphone, or a head-set with an integrated microphone.
You will be able to see video of your tutor in the Tutorial room, but if you want to appear in video form yourself you will need a webcam set up on your PC. Instructions for setting up your system to allow you to broadcast audio and video are covered below.
If you intend to log in to the Tutorial room from more than one PC, i.e. from home and from work, you will need to make sure that these steps are followed for any PC that you use.
Opening the Tutorial room
Meetings in the Tutorial room will be listed in the Calendar and the Upcoming Events block on your course homepage. At the planned time click on the ‘Tutorial room’ link from the top block on your course homepage and log in using the email address you provided when you registered for the course and the password you were sent for accessing the course website provided in your course joining instructions. (Note: because the Tutorial room and your course website are separate sites, changing your password for the course website will not change it for the Tutorial room.)
When you have logged into the Tutorial room you will see the home page (above). This page is where you will see a list of the meetings you can enter. Clicking on 'My Profile' in the top right-hand corner allows you to change your profile details, including your password. To enter a meeting click on the ‘Open’ button located next to the name of the meeting.
The main meeting area
The main meeting room area is where your online meeting will take place and can be laid out in a variety of ways depending on the aims of the meeting. The main meeting area is comprised of a number of 'pods', which are similar to the blocks on the course homepage. The main difference with 'pods' is that they can be moved around, minimised, maximised and even hidden as the meeting takes place. How much of an effect you can have on the meeting area depends on your role and the rights that you have.
Roles in the Tutorial room
There are three different roles in the Tutorial room, defined as follows:
Host
A host sets up the meeting, invites the participants, chooses the content, and assigns both presenter and participant roles to the attendees. A host can also perform all of the same actions as a presenter. Your tutor will usually be the meeting host.
Presenter
A presenter can broadcast live audio and video, chat, customise the meeting room layout (moving and hiding pods) and can present content to other attendees, such as PowerPoint slides, web pages etc.
Participant
A participant can view content being presented and audio and video broadcasts. Participants can also use text-based chat. As a student you will normally be set up with the role of a participant. However the host or presenter can also choose to give you additional rights so that you are able to do the following:
- Broadcast audio and video
- Share documents
- Annotate documents
- Make notes which are visible to all attendees
Pods
There are several default layouts which can be used and the host/presenter can also customise the layout of the meeting room themselves, so you may find that the layout changes depending on the presenter and the aims of the meeting. Although the layout is liable to change, there are a limited number of pods which can be used.
Attendees
The Attendees pod lists everyone who is logged into the meeting at that time. Attendees are grouped by role. The icon to the left of the name also indicates whether people are set up as hosts, presenters or participants. During the meeting different rights may be assigned by the host and when this occurs you will see names move to their newly assigned role.
At the top of the Tutorial room is an icon called ‘Set Status'. Clicking on the arrow next to the icon displays the following list:
These options are useful for giving a clear and simple message to the host/presenter, or to other participants. For example your tutor may ask you to use the ‘Raise hand’ status if you wish to ask a question during a tutorial.
Audio
To set up your audio, go to the 'Meeting' menu of the Tutorial room and choose 'Audio Setup Wizard...' and follow the step-by-step instructions.
To broadcast audio, click on ‘Connect my Audio’, which you will find by clicking on the arrow next to the microphone icon 
in the navigation bar of the Tutorial room. When you start broadcasting audio, you will see the microphone icon change colour and become green. To stop broadcasting audio click on ‘Disconnect My Microphone’, which you will find by clicking the arrow next to the microphone icon. (When you stop broadcasting audio, you will notice that the microphone icon in the navigation bar will change colour from green back to white.)
Single speaker mode: the meeting host/presenter can set this mode by selecting ‘Enable Single Speaker Mode’ in the ‘Audio’ menu on the Tutorial room. If this feature is on, the microphone icon will look like this: 
Clicking this icon means that you block out the presenter’s broadcast to all attendees, so you should only use this option if told to by your tutor.
Video
To set up your webcam, click on ‘Start My Webcam’. Any webcam that is installed on your PC should automatically be selected.
Once you have set up your audio and video settings, and you've been given broadcast rights, you will see the 'Start My Webcam' button in the middle of the Video pod. Clicking this button will show you a preview screen; click the ‘Start Sharing’ button to begin the broadcast of your video feed. When you start broadcasting video you will see the webcam icon in the navigation bar change colour and become green. To stop broadcasting video click on the ‘Stop My Webcam’ button at the top of the Video pod. (When you stop broadcasting video, you will notice that the webcam icon in the navigation bar will change colour from green back to white.)
Pause: stops broadcasting video and just displays an image of the last frame to be sent by your webcam) instead. The pause button can be found at the bottom right corner of the Video pod. When you pause your video, the pause button changes to a play button and you can click this at any time to start broadcasting video again. If there are participants with slow network connections then the meeting host/presenter may pause the video feed.
For further options, click the menu icon in the top right hand corner of the Video pod.
Chat
This is a simple text-based chat. You type your message in the box at the bottom of the Chat pod and press the enter key, or click the button to the right of the text entry box. You can choose to chat to everyone, to the presenters or to other participants by clicking on the menu icon on the top right hand corner or the pod and selecting who you wish to chat with from the ‘Start chat with’ option.
Notes
Hosts and presenters use a Notes pod to take meeting notes that all participants can see. It remains visible in a Notes pod throughout the meeting or until a presenter edits the note or displays a different note.
Poll
This pod allows the host/presenter to poll attendees on the answer to a question. You may be able to select single or multiple answers and the poll remains open until the presenter closes it. The results can then be broadcast to all participants. You can see your answers and the overall results, but only the presenter can see how all participants voted.
Share
This is the main pod for sharing and collaboration. The Share pod allows the host/presenter to share a range of files, as well as make their computer screen visible to attendees, and can therefore be used to demonstrate a software application or display a document. The host/presenter can also launch a collaborative whiteboard.
The whiteboard allows the host/presenter to create a blank whiteboard, or to overlay a whiteboard onto another document, so that they can be annotated. If you have been given rights to edit the whiteboard, you will see a set of tools for writing and drawing on the screen at the top of the pod.
You may find that there are several different types of Share pod open at any one time, sharing different types of document, including:
File Share
This pod allows the host/presenter to upload and share files with participants. Meeting participants cannot upload files; participants who want to upload files should ask the host to change their attendee role or to grant enhanced rights for the File Share pod.
Web Links
This pod allows the host/presenter to enter a URL which is displayed as a link in the pod for all participants to click on. Anyone using Mozilla Firefox may find the link automatically opens in a new tab.
Summary
There is no single correct way in which to use the Tutorial room and you may find that each of your tutors prefers to use it in a different way. We envisage that as a group you will develop your own working methods over the time of the course. It may take a little time to become accustomed to working together in this environment.