Ok, so your an Admin that has the fortune to have Adobe Connect integrated into Canvas. If you have not done it yet, here are some destructions: Canvas Integration with Adobe Connect (Once the blog postings are approved, I'll update the links. )
Let's talk about Best Practices. Better yet call it "things you better do or you will have to have the cleanup on isle 9."
If you are a Canvas Admin, but you are not the Adobe Connect Admin (ACA), then you just might want to share this with them. This is some of the stuff I have been sharing. It is designed for in house documentation, but you should get the picture from it.
Best Practices
Creating a new conference:
- When an instructor uses conferences for the first time, they do not have a user account in Adobe Connect. So the instructor will have to create a test room first. This will then place the instructor as a Participant in the web conference room. Instructors will need to be assigned as a Host on the Connect sever in order to use Adobe Connect in the course. The ACA will then need to be notified that that instructor's Canvas generated account will need to be added into the Meeting Host system group in the Connect server.
- Naming convention. Evidently, the conference tool creates a double name in Connect for meeting rooms. The Canvas shell's short name is preset, then followed with a default title in the name section. A best practice is to have the instructor Delete the entire default title in the Name section. Type the current semester (S=Spring, F=Fall, M=Summer) with year followed with the date (yy-mm-dd) and your last name (i.e. S14-03-19-Smith). This is done to ensure your meeting room is not deleted until the end of the semester. ACA's may delete old conferences from past semesters, and so naming your conferences in this way helps them identify old conferences and maintain license parameters. Note:You will get an error message when you try to start a conference if your title has too many characters, so keep your conference title as short as possible. The limit is 26 characters with no spaces. If your last name has over 16 characters, just shorten it so it meets the 26 character limit. See image.
Connect Maintenance:
- We do have a maintenance practice which happens after every semester. We delete all of the created meetings as listed under the User Meetings > 'canvas' Meeting List directory. Since these meeting rooms are only used by the course shell that created them, there is no sense in keeping them. A neater digital footprint is the result. If we have an instructor that needs to keep a recording, we can relocate the file to a directory outside of the Meetings > 'canvas' Meeting List directory. Or we move it to our Kaltura instance.
Troubleshooting
I. Access Denied:
- “Unable to access meeting room created.” Meeting room was created without following “Naming Convention”- This is where the host created a room via Canvas and did not follow the F14-mm-dd-yourlastname format or because they have exceeded 26 characters.
- SOLUTION: Delete the meeting room and create a new room following the naming convention.
- “Page not found” -This is a result of Adobe Connect timing out. Connectivity speeds and internet traffic do influence access ability. The only action you can control is in having the user perform the following tasks in this order.
- 1st (Possible) SOLUTION: Have user reload their browser window. User may need to restart their web browser.
- 2nd (Work around) SOLUTION: Obtain the room name for the meeting in Canvas. As a Connect admin, log into the Connect Server directly as you will need to acquire the meeting room URL. At the top of the Connect Server dashboard, under the Connect logo, is the System Navigation bar. [Home|Content|Meetings|Reports|...] Click on Meetings. Under the system navigation bar, additional sub-links appear. Select the User Meetings link. This will take you to the Meeting List directory. All meetings created by Canvas are placed in the CANVAS folder. In this directory, you will see all of the meetings listed by course and section number with the meeting room name as set by the instructor. (Yes not everyone follows directions). Once the meeting room is found click on the title link. This will take you to the Meeting Information page. It is here that the meeting room URL can be copied from. Send the URL to the attendee. This should take them to the disclosure page, where they can then enter in the meeting without any issues.
- If the Login screen appears for them this is a result of another issue. The Canvas Admin and ACA may need to contact Instructure.
- “After I click on the meeting room link in Canvas, it takes me to a Connect login screen.” After clicking on the meeting room link, a recording disclosure appears, then the user is able to access the meeting room. When this does not happen, the Connect login screen will appear. This is an issue because the user cannot log into the course with a username and password. These are only supplied via Canvas. The temporary solution is the following:
- Tell them that they must access the room as a guest only. (Technically, anyone with the meeting room URL will be given Participant access.)
- If they are the instructor - DO NOT have them log into Connect as it will ruin their user account. HAVE them use the GUEST access. You will also need to go into the meeting room yourself. Once there, grant the instructor as a HOST within the meeting room.
- If you do not have HOST access yourself, close the meeting window. Return to the Meeting Information page. Click on the Edit Participants tab above the red bar. From there you will see two pod windows. Available U&G and Current Participants For XXXX… Find yourself in the Available Users window. Do not choose the +canvas-connect email account, as this is the one that Canvas created for you. Select on your correct email account. Then click on the Add button in the lower right of that pod window. Your name should then appear in the current participants list. At the bottom of that pod, click on the Set User Role and change your user role to Host. This will then give you host access to the meeting room.
- Do not add the instructor as the Host in the same way as mentioned above. It will not work as it will require them to access the meeting room through the Connect login screen. Since they do not have that username nor the password… de are hosen.
Be sure to contact your ACA and Canvas Admin so they can follow up on this integration issue with Instructure.
II. Instructor only has Participant Access:
If an instructor is a first time user, their Canvas created account has yet to be added into the Host users group. This is a one time procedure that is needed to be performed. See the following tutorial: Create a Conference in Canvas (Adobe Connect Integration)
After the conference room is created the following information is shared:
Due to the current nature of our Canvas-Connect integration, you will be listed as a Participant the first time you create a conference. You will need to be assigned as a Host on the Connect server in order to use Adobe Connect in your course. This assignment is only needed to be performed once by the ACA. Once action has been performed the instructor will be able to host web conferences via Canvas.
To perform this task you will need to login to the Connect Server. On the System navigation bar. [Home|Content|Meetings|Reports|...] Select Administration. Under the System Navigation bar, click on the second sublink called Users and Groups. This will display the Users and Groups pod window.
Click on the Meeting Hosts group. It will then be highlighted in green. At the bottom of the pod window the link buttons will become active. Click on Information. This will show the group information page. Above the red bar, click on Edit Group Information. This will display two pod windows- Possible Group Members and Current Group Members. Scroll or search for the Instructor’s account created by Canvas. (hint: It is the one with +canvas-connect inserted in their email address.) Select their user account which will be highlighted in green. Then click on the Add button in the lower right of that pod window. Their name will be added to the Host group. Once performed, you can log out for the next task.
Notes:
- Faculty should close the meeting room window within their browser before performing this task. Once you have completed your end of the task, then have them re-initiate the meeting room via Canvas.
- Faculty should not need a direct to Connect (Connect Server access) account. All accounts and access to Connect should be via Canvas.
