This chapter addresses how to use the Adobe Connect platform as a virtual classroom.

In this example, I share how I use the Adobe Connect classroom features to create a mindful learning environment.

In this chapter, we share how to use Adobe Connect’s tools to collaborate with students to create community agreements for the course. Community agreements are also known as group norms, class rules, etc. We also discuss reasons for creating community agreements with online students, and anti-racist considerations.

The use of the large chat pod on Adobe Connect can encourage chat participation, and promote fruitful discussions in the online classroom. This chapter will discuss the benefits of the large chat pod, and provide examples of when to utilize this unique feature.

This section addresses lecture engagement. I will review how to simultaneously utilize large slides and a small chat pod to focus participants' attention.

This chapter focuses on getting student feedback on live class sessions by using various types of polls to encourage input for bettering the classes sessions and the course overall.

In this example, I will share how and why I use polls to determine how much time I allot to class check-ins. I will also provide examples of how to use Adobe Connect features to support the check-in experience.

The use of a poll and a second chat pod to end a class session promotes student reflection on the material and connection of course content to social work practice. This chapter will discuss ways to utilize the chat and poll pods to wrap up and reflect on a live class session.

The status icons feature in Adobe Connect can be a useful tool to increase engagement, check in with students, get real-time feedback, and gauge student preferences.

At times, instructors may want to bring all students onto webcam together. This chapter demonstrates an example of what this might look like.

In this example, I will share how and why I use PowerPoint slides set to the “portrait” orientation when I need to share a lot of text on a slide.

* Using a flipped classroom model, I was able to prepare students for group work and oral      presentations in their future careers.  

Creative usage of technology allows us to translate the traditional in-person lesson into engaging and easy-to-follow online sessions. In this chapter, we discuss a strategy to demonstrate graphs, annotations, and other visual materials using a second webcam. The approach is to set up another webcam option to broadcast hand-drawn illustrations on paper in real time. A key contribution of supplementing prepared materials with live drawing by webcam is the flexibility to connect concepts or address questions with a more personal interaction with students

Inviting a guest speaker into a live class session can be an excellent way of diversifying our lectures. It allows us to introduce a new perspective on the topic, share alternative experiences within the field of social work, and possibly connect our students with prospective mentors for further guidance. Through Adobe Connect, we are able to transform our classroom into a customized virtual stage to create truly personalized, dynamic and interactive guest speaker presentations. This chapter will discuss how adjusting the size of the webcam and the chat pod can improve the quality of guest speaker presentations within an online classroom.

In this chapter we will show how dedicated chat pods in Adobe Connect were used in a simulated client role play video exercise in a motivational interviewing skills-based lab for master’s level social work students. We will also discuss how these particular features and functions in Adobe Connect helped support the experiential learning approach for clinical skills training.

Use of the chat feature in Adobe Connect and of discussion forums in learning management systems (LMS) such as Canvas are two popular pedagogical strategies for encouraging students to contribute in online classes. However, high quality student contributions should move beyond agreement with others in order to maximize learning. In this chapter, I share the process of how collaboratively drafting a list of what constitutes “thoughtful contributions” to class can lead to richer online class learning opportunities.

An alternative to a Moment of Silence, a Moment of Action encourages student activism as a formalized opening exercise. Using a PROP-informed (power, racism, oppression, and privilege) framework, the Moment of Action is a practice that holds space in the classroom to acknowledge current events from a trauma-informed lens. This is especially necessary given the intensity of today’s political and social climate. The Moment of Action allows the whole class to share their perspectives, provide resources, and act in alignment with social work ethics. Its consistency, paired with the real-time flexibility to incorporate events, allows students to reflect on issues of importance before transitioning into the day’s coursework

This chapter discusses the importance of taking in-class breaks and the steps for how you might do this in your online classroom. Based on our combined experiences in the role of student, instructor, and classroom support, we offer our knowledge of essential considerations when planning in-class breaks. In addition, we provide suggestions for optional activities to complete during the break.

This chapter discusses the importance of taking in-class breaks and the steps for how you might do this in your online classroom. Based on our combined experiences in the role of student, instructor, and classroom support, we offer our knowledge of essential considerations when planning in-class breaks. In addition, we provide suggestions for optional activities to complete during the break.

In this chapter, I describe an activity in which students have the opportunity to volunteer to share photos of themself or family members and use short 1-2 minute presentations at the beginning of each class to share about themselves. The goal of this activity is to build class community, empower student participation, and deepen awareness of class diversity.

“Student Spotlight” is an engagement activity for which instructors can allot up to five minutes of class time to allow students to get to know one another as well as the instructional team. 

This chapter will discuss the benefits of using emojis in your online classroom, as well as different ways to incorporate them into your class sessions.

“The intent of field education is to integrate the theoretical and conceptual contribution of the classroom with the practical world of the practice setting. It is a basic precept of social work education that the two interrelated components of curriculum—classroom and field—are of equal importance within the curriculum and each contributes to the development of the requisite competencies of professional practice.” (EPAS, 2015) 

Research is emerging about the effectiveness of online Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) on well-being, mental health, stress, depressive symptoms and anxiety (Spijkerman, Pots, and Bohlmeijer, 2016). As the world becomes more virtually accessible and online learning continues to grow across professions, creativity in classroom design is important for learning and student well-being. In this chapter I discuss how to design an effective layout in Adobe Connect to practice mindfulness in the classroom. In the following example, a social work professor used the Adobe Connect classroom to virtually teach social work students mindfulness, meditation, and yoga-based intervention skills that could be utilized personally and/or professionally/clinically. As the Live Support Specialist responsible for setting up the Adobe Classroom in advance, I carefully considered how to keep slides and/or videos visible that would be used for demonstration and reference, while also creating a space large enough for the entire class to come on camera collectively to practice chair yoga together.

In this chapter we share how mindfulness practices can be leveraged to support various goals including creating an engaged virtual learning environment, and to enhance a student’s toolkit for self-care and clients as a future practitioner.

In this chapter, we share a simple chair yoga routine that can be used during online classes in Adobe Connect.

This case study: 

In this example, we share how putting together a fun, creative recording of key course content can leave a lasting impression on students' learning.

A termination quilt is the cumulative visual of a class’s experience in a virtual format. Similar to a physical quilt that is created by joining together multiple unique squares, this virtual quilt is made up of individual photos or images created by the students in an online classroom. 

Breakout rooms in Adobe Connect have the potential to create an intimate classroom experience where students can engage with each other and group-based, participatory learning can be facilitated. This chapter describes how Adobe Connect breakout rooms can be used for short in-class activities, highlighting four different use cases. The four types of breakout group discussion activities include 1) discussions based on the homework, 2) discussions based on in-class materials and lectures, 3) a case study analysis, and 4) group project-based work. These examples are drawn from my experiences conducting breakout groups in a wide range of classes, including the course Program Planning and Development taught by Rick Greenberg, and is written from my perspective as a teaching associate: supporting the professor with the course, including planning and facilitating breakout activities.

Pre-assigning breakout groups and student roles for 10-minute breakout activities during live sessions is a practice that supports time management and diversification of student roles and responsibilities. Students report that a 10-minute breakout activity often feels like a short amount of time and this tool helps maximize the time for activity engagement. It also ensures that all students share breakout group role responsibilities throughout the semester. In an effort to honor trauma-informed practices, instructional teams send an announcement with pre-assignments prior to the live session so that students can prepare accordingly

After a breakout group activity, instructors may want to have students debrief their conversations. Providing a view of the note pods each group used in their breakout room can facilitate this discussion. I refer to this layout as a “birds eye view” because it allows you to take in information from each breakout room at a glance. Instructors can also use this layout to monitor the progress groups are making during the breakout activity. This chapter demonstrates an example of what this layout might look like.

Taking ownership of one’s learning process can be an empowering activity for graduate students. Utilizing a KWL chart (Know, Want to know, Learned) assists students in this reflective process from start to finish. KWL charts work well with contained lessons, guest speakers, or for an entire semester’s reflection.

In this example, we present a breakout exercise to review a course syllabus on the first day of class. We also share how to set up the exercise using features of Adobe Connect.

Concept mapping is a visual aid that students create through identifying relationships between and among important concepts. Concept mapping is an effective way to creatively engage students in the learning process when introducing new topics, hard-to-grasp ideas, or needing students to expand their knowledge on a previously learned subject.

In this example, I will share how to use the whiteboard for small breakout groups in Adobe Connect. I will also share an example of a whiteboard activity I found meaningful for social work students learning in an online environment. This submission is written from my perspective as a Live Support Specialist. I was responsible for taking the instructor’s ideas and agenda items and producing them on the Adobe Connect virtual platform with engaging and user friendly solutions. I utilized a variety of virtual tools, provided technical support, and facilitated an organized communication system for seamless “behind the scenes” collaboration during class. I also occasionally participated in the discussion or presentation of course concepts when my experience in the field of social work was solicited.

This chapter describes how scripted role play activities were conducted in breakout rooms using the Adobe Connect platform and provides insights for educators interested in adopting similar activities in their classroom. Two courses (Introduction to Prolonged Grief Treatment and Foundations of Grief Therapy) taught by Katherine Shear used scripted role plays to practice clinical skills and engage and reflect on the emotional experience of engaging in grief therapy. The chapter is written from my perspective as a teaching associate: supporting the professor with the course material as well as occasionally participating in the role play when the number of students in the class required me to do so.

In this example, we will share how and why we utilized Adobe Connect to explore self-care in a classroom setting. We will also explore how different features of Adobe Connect can be used to facilitate activities similar to this one, such as utilizing polls and breakout rooms

This chapter will provide a case example of how we used polls to facilitate debriefing discussions among students after conducting role play exercises in an online motivational interviewing skills-based training lab for first year MSW students.

Inspired by supporting several hundred live class sessions as a Live Support Specialist at Columbia University School of Social Work, I have created a unique class activity to recognize each student’s contributions to the class community. The “Acknowledging your peer” exercise is a student-led breakout room activity to conclude a course and help students create graduate school memories they can carry for a lifetime