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Virtual Classroom courses are a delivery method available to customers who purchase a Virtual Classroom License from LatitudeLearning®. A license provides the customer with an integrated meeting room and the ability to automatically create meetings at the time offerings are scheduled for a Virtual Classroom-type course. While some steps in setting up these virtual courses and offerings are the same as their standard Classroom counterparts, this document explains the differences and provides guidance on the LMS portion of the Virtual Classroom process. We currently offer Virtual Classroom integration with Adobe Connect.

A single LMS-based Adobe Connect license:

• Allows one active, in-progress offering at a time. There can be no overlap in meeting times and there is a default 15 minute preparation window for each offering that must also be considered in scheduling. For instance, a one hour session starting at 10:00 am would prevent a one hour session at 11:00 because of the 15 minute preparation window needed by the later meeting.
• Allows up to 95 attendees per offering by default.
• The 15 minute window can be extended on request, but that will also impact the ability to schedule additional offerings in the same time frame.

Additional considerations of the LMS-Adobe Connect integration:

• There are limitations in Adobe Connect functionality when going through the LMS Virtual Classroom. This includes an inability to establish a variety of virtual room layouts as templates and apply them to each offering based on how the instructor would like to present. There is one room layout template and because the Adobe Connect meeting is created at the same time the Virtual Classroom Offering (VCO) is set up, the layout is locked in immediately. Adobe does not allow templates to be changed once the meeting is established. All virtual room layout adjustments must be made during the 15 minute preparation period.
• Students must be enrolled in the VCO in order to create a transcript and activate a button in the LMS that allows them to join the session at the designated time, and to have their attendance tracked in the LMS to support automatic roster management. Non-enrollees who have accounts in the LMS could join the session if they receive the meeting link, but their attendance is not tracked in the LMS. A portal administrator would need to manually add a transcript or use Transcript Import, to track their attendance.

Facilities

If you've purchased the Virtual Classroom Add-on and our ClientCare team has indicated that it has been installed and configured, one of the first things you should create is a new facility to use for Virtual Classroom Offerings (VCO).  See Create and Manage Training Facilities for general information about facilities. For Virtual Classrooms, here are the key points you need to consider:

• Organization: You must select all the Organizations (Business Units) which have courses that need access to this facility.
• Facility Type: Select Virtual Classroom.
• Time Zone: Select the base time zone for this facility. This is what will be used for scheduling offerings. Users in other time zones will be able to download a calendar file that contains the meeting time translated into their local time.

 

Courses

To take advantage of Adobe Connect Integration, you must create courses with the Virtual Classroom Delivery Method. See New Course Configuration for basic information about adding a new course or common information about both instructor-led methods in the document Classroom Courses and Offerings. To create a Virtual Classroom Course, here are the key points as they differ from other new course delivery methods.
 

• Delivery Method: Select Virtual Classroom.
• Online Course section (add)/Online tab (edit): 
  • Percent Complete Required: Select the percentage of the virtual classroom offering the student must attend in order for the system to assign an auto-generated completion. The LMS offers the ability to let roster processing happen automatically based on this setting. A job runs 24 hours after the end of the offering which reviews VCO logged-in attendance times and processes roster attendance before automatically closing the offering. You can also manually process the roster. This is a default setting. It can be changed at the offering level.
  • Record Event: This must be enabled if you plan to record the event in Adobe Connect and have the LMS generate a Playback link to the recording for all attendees who pass the course. This is just half of the recording setting requirements. The others must be set up in the Adobe Connect meeting room after the instructor launches the meeting from the LMS. If this is not checked, a recording can still be made in Adobe Connect. It will just not show up for playback in the LMS. This is a default setting and can be changed at the offering level.

 

OFFERINGS

To schedule instances of a Virtual Classroom course, you create offerings based on the course using the same Add Offering function used for Classroom courses. You can find information about Offerings, in general, in the document Classroom Courses and Offerings. To create a Virtual Classroom Offering, here are the key steps that vary from a standard offering.
 

• Facility: Select your Virtual Classroom-related facility.
• Online Settings section (add)/Online tab (edit):
  • Percent Complete Required: Defaults from the Course setting. Can be changed for a particular offering.
  • Record Event: Defaults from the Course setting. This must be enabled if you plan to record the event and have the LMS generate a Playback link to the recording for all attendees who pass the course. This is just one half of setting the recording requirements. Recording must also be enabled inside the Adobe Connect or Saba meeting room after the instructor launches the meeting from the LMS. If this is not enabled, a recording can still be made in the meeting application. It will just not show up for playback in the LMS.
  • Playback Retention Days: Enter the number of days, up to 90, that users who successfully complete the course will have to view a Playback option from their History. This will not work if you do not record the event by setting it up both in the LMS and in the meeting room.
• Meeting Times:  Works like a standard classroom offering. Note that for Virtual Classroom Offerings, there is a built-in 15 minute pre-meeting time launch window for meeting hosts to allow room setup and configuration.

 

The Instructor Experience

After you schedule your offering, Adobe Connect creates and reserves your meeting room. You will be restricted from creating additional VCOs at the same date and time, depending on the number of VCO Licenses you purchased. The system verification of the available time slot for other VCO sessions will also consider the 15 minute setup time allotted to an existing VCO. For instance, by default, your scheduled 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm VCO will tie up a VCO license from 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm.

You can manage your roster as you would with a standard offering, but when it is time to begin your meeting, the primary difference for VCO is found on the Actions tab of the offering.
 

 

On the left side of the tab content, there are links to common offering-related actions. On the right side, there is a series of buttons that are only available for Virtual Classrooms.
 

• Launch as Instructor: This button is activated, by default, 15 minutes prior to the stated start time of the offering. The instructor/host should use this to launch the Adobe Connect meeting room prior to the offering's start to set up the meeting space, test audio, and prepare content for the audience.
• Reset VCO Access: For instructors and others who are attempting to Launch as Instructor and are having problems, using this option will clear some of the instructor-related data stored from previous launches that could be interfering with current attempts.
• Audit Course: Opens the meeting room for viewing without being an enrolled user.
• Content: For Adobe Connect, it launches an Adobe Connect administration page for the user, with access to any user-provided content stored there. 
• Request Guest URL: View and copy a URL that provides meeting access to anyone who has it. Users accessing the meeting with the Guest URL are not tied automatically to any enrollments and cannot be given credit for attendance using automatic roster processing. If enrolled users have difficulty launching the session from the LMS, you can provide this URL to them, but it will be necessary to manually process their attendance under Roster Processing. NOTE: Enrollees do not see this URL unless you provide it. If you want to make it accessible to them in case of access problems, consider copying it and pasting it to the offering's Description, which is visible to all. Keep in mind that enrolled users who enter the course via the Guest URL will be seen as not attending if you use automated roster processing. These enrollees would need to be processed manually to get the Attend(Pass) status.
   

 

The Participant Experience

Meeting participants may open the offering and go to the Detail tab up to 15 minutes prior to the session start time. At that time the Launch Course button activates and is available to the attendee to enter the offering meeting room. They can find the offering on the Courses to Complete or Training Calendar pages from the Navigation page or on the Classic Home page under Live Courses.
 

 

If the portal administrator or host/instructor set up the offering to provide playback of the recorded webinar, a participant can find the Playback option after the offering is closed, either by the automated roster process on the 24 hour delay or manually by the portal administrator or instructor. Only participants who achieved a completed status will be shown this option. To find the Playback feature, if available:

1. Navigate to the Training History icon on the Navigation page or the History tab of the Classic Home.
2. Find the completed transcript entry for the virtual classroom offering and click the name of the course, which will link to the Course Details.
3. If the session was set up to allow Playback and the student successfully completed the session, a Playback button is available as an option on that page. Note: It may take some time for the video to render and for this option to appear.
   
   

 

Inside the Adobe connect meeting room

After launching the course, follow prompts as directed to enter the meeting room.
 

• Participants: See our Adobe Connect Guide for Participants for additional details on this portion of the process, including how to work within the Adobe Connect Meeting window.
• Instructors/Meeting Hosts: See our Adobe Connect Guide for Hosts for details on how to manage the session within your Adobe Connect Meeting window.

Once the offering is complete, users can select Meeting > Exit Adobe Connect. When instructors are ready to close a session, they should select Meeting > End Meeting. This closes out the session and if attendance is being tracked automatically, it signals the official end of the session, after which the countdown to automatic roster processing can begin.
 

Automated roster processing for vco

If the Virtual Classroom Offering was set up with a Percent Complete Required, the LMS and Adobe Connect can trigger automatic roster processing based on the percentage of time an enrolled participant was present in the Adobe Connect Meeting room while the host was present. This process operates as a rolling schedule that is kicked off 24 hours after the meeting ends. The offering must remain open until the process completes.  If it is important to record attendance before that, use manual roster processing.