Adobe Connect Blog

What an amazing time last week in Orlando for both the Adobe Learning Summit 2011 (#ALS2011) and the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo 2011 (#LS2011). I had the great opportunity during my time at both to show off the new version of Adobe Connect Mobile for Android on the Motorola XOOM tablet! While not everyone got to see the application in action, between myself and my Adobe colleague, RJ Jacquez (@rjacquez), who also had a XOOM and was showing conference attendees Adobe Captivate content, we cast a fairly wide net of how Adobe is trending in the mobile learning (mLearning) space.

One of the biggest themes across both conferences was, in fact, mLearning. There were more questions than answers and even fewer examples (with exception of the awesome mLearning work that Josh Cavalier (@JoshCav) is doing over at http://www.lodestone.com/). That said, it’s clear learning practitioners are very interested in mLearning and eager to get their hands on technologies that will give them an instant mobile learning solution. Enter the latest version of Adobe Connect Mobile.

At ALS2011, I attended Adobe Connect team member Peter Ryce’s session, Extensibility = Learner Engagement, where between the two of us, we demoed Adobe Connect from his laptop, his Android smartphone and from the XOOM I had with me! With the new mobile app, I participated in polls, the chat pod and even broadcast video from the XOOM’s camera live to the audience, in excellent quality, and over hotel WiFi. The Adobe Connect experience on the tablet is superior! I could sense the excitement from attendees and its implications for mLearning by those who witnessed it. Adobe Connect Mobile on the XOOM, and other tablets, represents an entirely new opportunity for mLearning – the mobile virtual learning environment or classroom. The virtual classroom has never been this accessible on a mobile device.

Over at LS2011, I attended How to Produce Consistently Engaging Virtual Online Sessions with Chris Benz (@chris_benz) and Karen Hyder (@karenhyder), both of the eLearningGuild – a practitioner’s network using Adobe Connect for their own virtual learning. I had a chance to show Chris the new Adobe Connect Mobile app and discuss its potential for mLearning.

One other note, day two keynote Nancy Duarte also showed screenshots of Adobe Connect during her keynote presentation, Resonate – Visual Stories That Transform Learners and Audiences. I was very happy to tweet about that!

Were you at ALS2011 or LS2011? Did we cross paths and, if so, did you see me cruising with or demoing on the XOOM? What was most memorable for you about the shows? Please let us know in comments or send me a message on Twitter.

Justin Mass, Senior Learning Technologist, Adobe (@jmass)

I’m excited to announce the availability of Adobe Connect Mobile 1.5 for Android smartphones and tablets. This follows the original version of our application for Android, which we made available in October 2010 and discussed in this post. We appreciated all the feedback to version 1.0 and have worked to extend and improve the application further in this latest version. We encourage you to download the free Adobe Connect Mobile 1.5 app from the Android Market today (more on that later).

With this version, the first optimized for Android tablets and with enhancements to be enjoyed on Android smartphones as well, Adobe Connect Mobile gives the mobile user complete confidence to attend meetings from anywhere. With an updated user interface, mobile users will feel more like full meeting participants, and can interact in many of the same ways as someone on a desktop system.

The new release provides an entirely updated interface, which in part includes the following new views and features:

Two-way Video
• Participate in multi-point video conferencing and add your own upstream video broadcast to the conversation.

Meeting Overview and Focus View Options

• In Meeting Overview, watch all the activities happening in the meeting at once.
• Tap or navigate to focus in on any one meeting activity like the slide presentation or screen share.
• Focus on an activity to enter your input in Chat, Private Chat, and Polls.
• While in Focus View, instant notifications help you stay current with off-screen activities that may need your attention, like new or private chat messages. Tap to focus on new activities directly from these notifications.

Check out this video to see me demo some of the new features, including those I’ve described above.

Adobe Connect Mobile 1.5 is available here in the Android Market for users whose devices meet the minimum system prerequisites. Adobe AIR 2.6 for Android (or later) is required, as is Android 2.2/FroYo (or later). A list of mobile devices that meet the AIR system requirements can be found here.

Remember, we also have an Adobe Connect Mobile application for Apple iOS devices; you can find version 1.0.5 on iTunes Preview here. The app will be updated to version 1.5 soon, so please stay tuned to us on this blog and Twitter.

For more information on the Adobe Connect Mobile client, as well as user commentary, visit our Adobe Connect Mobile User Forum on connectusers.com.

As always, we’re interested in hearing from you—in comments, on our mobile user forum, and on Twitter @AdobeConnect.

Cheers,
Randah McKinnie, Principal Product Manager

It’s not hard to understand why more organizations are looking to eLearning to help reduce the costs and lost productivity associated with travel for sales training. What comes as a surprise to many though is how expensive and time consuming it can be to create great eLearning content. It typically requires the involvement of subject matter experts, developers, artists, training managers, IT and more.

In the video below, I show a different approach. Rapid sales training combines the ability to very quickly create on-demand content with live virtual classrooms that provide a collaborative and engaging environment for students.

By Randah McKinnie, Sr Product Manager

Just as Adobe MAX 2010 kicks into full swing, and following the release of Adobe AIR for Android, I am thrilled to announce Adobe Connect Mobile for Android is now available in the Android Market. Now you can attend Adobe Connect meetings from your Android device. Literally collaborate anytime, anywhere, as you participate in chat conversations, view slides and presentations, and watch live video feeds of any number of meeting participants.

And all this for free!

We hope your colleagues, team members, and customers find it convenient to have yet another great option to jump in to an Adobe Connect meeting even when on the move.

Please download the app today and try attending the next Adobe Connect meeting on your schedule from an Android device. We hope you enjoy the experience, and encourage you to provide feedback and enhancement requests by joining in to our Adobe Connect Mobile user community forum: http://www.connectusers.com/forums/cucbb/viewforum.php?id=53

And, remember we also have an Adobe Connect Mobile application for Apple iOS devices; it’s been available since February 2010. We’ve updated the application a few times since then, including just in the last few days. You can read more about it on iTunes Preview here.

Features of the Adobe Connect Mobile meeting attendance app:

• Attend any Adobe Connect meeting that is accessible from the web
• Listen and speak over two-way VOIP audio
• Join the meeting’s conference call for two-way telephone participation
• Watch the presentation in real-time and high resolution
• Watch streaming videos presented in meetings
• Live chat with other participants and Q&A with hosts
• Watch live video streams of meeting participants who are broadcasting their cameras

Product Forum and Release Notes 

System Requirements

• Android v2.2 and above
• Adobe AIR for Android
• Current certified devices: Google Nexus One and Motorola Droid
  (While we have not yet tested against other Android devices, we expect they may also run the application just fine.)

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Click here to download from your Android device.

And if you’re not already, follow us on Twitter for the latest on Adobe Connect: @adobeconnect.