Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

eLive Guide: Preparing for and running eLive

sessions

Introduction
Elluminate Live is a program that facilitates online interaction in real time, allowing us
to run tutorials, learning activities, project work, student supervision and meetings
online with students and colleagues. The program has many features such as the
ability to run Powerpoint presentations and visit websites with participants, polling
tools to survey participants, check their understanding or obtain feedback, the facility
to share and send documents in real time, whiteboard and chat functions, breakout
rooms for small group work, and many other features that allow us to create
interactive, participatory and collaborative learning activities.

Universities are using Elluminate Live for many purposes including:

– Interactive Tutorials
– Small group work
– Inquiry and Blended Learning (link)
– Student collaborative space for project work
– Delivery of course material
– Student contact ‘Office hours’
– Research meetings (link)
– Supervision of students

Preparation for using eLive

1. Schedule an eLive orientation session with Dr. Ian Story or an experienced staff
member.
2. Plan what you will do in the session. A 30-40min eLive session is recommended
as a maximum for the first session - teaching in eLive initially takes a great deal
of concentration.
3. Create a Powerpoint presentation to structure the session. On the first slide
write Set Up instructions for students (example attached).
4. Consider the pedagogical purpose of your teaching in eLive. eLive sessions in
which the lecturer answers questions may encourage passivity in students.
Many staff report that the use of and learning activities and challenging
questions enhances engagement and achieves higher learning outcomes.
5. Communicate to students in your unit guide and on DSO to prepare them: see
Post 1 and Post 2 on pages 10 and 11 of this document.
Some of the important information to tell students includes:
– Students need a headset, or speakers and a mike. The headset in the
Deakin bookshop is not recommended as the sound quality is poor.
– Announce the dates and times of sessions with plenty of notice or, even
better, publish the eLive timetable in the Unit Guide – this may encourage
higher levels of participation.
– Students need to log in not with their Deakin login as staff do, but with
their full name and the password “hmnbs” as indicated on the eLive link.

Elluminate Live Guide 1

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

– Inform students that downloading and setting up eLive initially may take
some time, and that they should test eLive the day prior to the first session
so they can obtain technical support if required.
– Provide students with links to Deakin eLive support web pages and ITSD
phone numbers

Elluminate Live Guide 2

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

The first eLive Session

1. Before launching eLive, plug in your speakers, microphone or headset.

2. Log in to the session 15 mins before the session start time so when the students
log in they will see your name and know they are in the right place. Staff log in
using Deakin login, and students log in with their name so you are able to
identify who they are.

3. When you first launch eLive, when asked, set the connection speed (LAN if at
Deakin University).

4. Test your audio: Tools > Audio > Audio Set Up Wizard.
– If sound is not working, close your eLive session, go to Start > Control
Panel > Sounds and Audio devices, set default device to not your
headset, launch eLive. Test Audio. (It may not work at this stage). Then
close eLive, open Control Panel, go to Sounds and Audio devices, change
the default device back to your headset, then launch eLive. It should work
now. If not, repeat, or restart your computer. (Or get help from ITSD)

5. Change Audio Settings so more than one person can speak at once:
– Tools > Audio > Allow Simultaneous Talkers > then set it at 6.

6. On the Whiteboard, upload a welcoming PowerPoint slide or type “Welcome to

UnitName” or other welcoming statement. You may also wish to upload a
(small) photo of yourself so there is a sense of people being in the space, rather
than just the software.

7. It is also useful to suggest students conduct an Audio check (see attached

Powerpoint slide)

8. Welcome each participant by name as they arrive, and tell the group when you
start recording the session that the session is being recorded.

9. In the first session, allow students to talk or type if they don’t have headsets,
test out the Polling tools, draw on the whiteboard etc. Your goal here should
mainly be to familiarise students with the software, and the environment.

Elluminate Live Guide 3

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

eLive Session Checklist

[Print this out to use as a reminder during your session]

1. Plug in headset

2. Enter eLive

Filename: 3. Upload Powerpoint slides

Files of type:

Ensure then when you are browsing

for the PPT file on your computer,
you change file types in the drop
down box

4. Change Audio channels to 6 : Tools > Audio > Allow Simultaneous Speakers

5. Click the microphone to talk. You can leave it on if you are not worried about
noises that may be occurring in your office or environment.

6. Welcome each student by name as they arrive

7. Ask students to log in with their first and last name (not their Deakin username)
to facilitate easier communication. You can ask the students who have not
entered their full name to leave the eLive session and re-enter, logging in with
their first and last name

8. Familiarise students with some of the communication tools:

– Smiley face to show they understand or agree

– Tick or cross
– Raise hand if want to ask question (then you click each number as you
answer)
– Door close if need to leave for a minute

9. Inform students you are going to begin recording the session

10. Click the red Record button

11. Click the blue Pause button to stop recording during group work. Restart
recording when required.

Elluminate Live Guide 4

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Creating a link on DSO to the eLive recording

Some hours after the eLive session, the recording will be available. To create a link to
the recording on DSO for students to access:

1. In the eLive room, go to Today’s Schedule

2. Click Recordings on the top left menu

3. On the calendar, click on the date on which you held the eLive session

4. Your session name will appear. Right click on the Link and choose Properties

5. From the menu, copy the address (URL) by selecting it with your mouse and
using the key combination Ctrl C.

6. In DSO click the Build tab and go to the eLive Recordings folder inside the eLive
Room folder.

7. Click: Add Content Link> Web Link > Create Link

8. Paste the address you have copied above. You may wish to announce to
students on DSO that the recording is available.

Elluminate Live Guide 5

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Communication strategies in eLive

Working as a team
If you have a large group, it can be overwhelming for you as moderator to have many
questions being asked or typed. You may consider working with a colleague in your
first few sessions so that you are able to share the moderating.
Managing Communication
At this stage many students will have speakers, but will not have a headset, so while
they can hear what you are saying, they will be communicating by typing. If there are
quite a few students typing at once, it may be difficult to keep up track of new
questions while you are answering previous questions. In this situation you may wish
to encourage students to use the Raise hand tool so you know who wishes to speak or
type and the order of requests.
One way to manage this is to encourage students to use the Hand Raise tool so you
can see who wishes to speak. Ask students without microphones to type their question
into the chat box in preparation for when it is their turn. This orders and speeds up the
communication process.
To do this:
1. Ask students to use the Hand Raise tool. As each student does this, they are
allocated a number in order which appears beside their name,
allowing you to keep track of who is next to ask a question or make a
comment.

2. Ask students without headsets to type in their question without Sending it

3. Then when you tell the student it is their turn, they can then press Send and
their question will appear.
4. You can then click on the number next to the student’s name as they ask their
question to remove the “hand raised” status.

Considerations regarding communication style in eLive sessions:

The rhythm and pace of communication in the eLive environment are slower than a
phone conversation. Allow time after you have spoken for students to absorb the
content and then ask questions if they need to. Silent periods may last longer than
those during a telephone conversation but participants become accustomed to this
with time.
eLive can enhance student’s sense of connectedness to the lecturer, each other and to
the course content, and this has been demonstrated in the research literature to
improve enjoyment and motivation. Being welcoming and supportive, placing a photo
of yourself on the whiteboard, using emoticons, encouraging students to experiment
and contribute will enhance this sense of connection
Keep the session short, especially for the first few sessions, it is a demanding form of
communication that requires considerable concentration from the facilitator.
If you are asked a question and you need to refer to a resource, tell students and click
the Stepping Out button to indicate you are not in the session for a few minutes.
– Be aware that someone who has clicked this button can still hear other
participants speaking in the session.
Elluminate Live Guide 6

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Teaching approaches in eLive

eLive offers the opportunity to implement a mixture of teaching strategies including

lecturing, interaction, questioning, discussion, small group work and student-lead
activities. As you become more confident in the eLive environment, you may think of
ways to use the space to express your teaching style and optimise deep learning.
A useful consideration when designing learning activities is whether each learning task
would be most effective occurring through interaction between learner-learner,
learner-instructor or learner-content.

Lecturing
Use eLive sessions for short lectures that focus on a specific topic that is not easily
understood in the normal lecture format. For example, you may to explain a complex
concept then consolidate and assess students understanding with a task. Having a
well-structured session supported with effective visual aids or resources will enhance
learning.

Interaction
Use polling tools, quizzes, share a document the students can work on, visiting
websites, using Breakout Rooms.

Small Group Discussion

You can also use the breakout room function (it’s easy!) to assign discussion topics or
tasks to small groups, then bring them back into the large group to present or discuss
their findings.

Small Group Activities

You can do almost anything you do in the classroom in eLive. For example create an
activity that the students do in pairs or groups of three. Explain the activity. Send
students to breakout rooms and tell them you will bring them back in 10 minutes. Ask
them to report by speech, text or other methods on their discussion.

Asking Questions
Using effective questioning methods rather than providing answers can enhance
students’ understanding and their process of knowledge construction.
So, rather than allowing the role of answering to always fall to you, you may decide to
design in opportunities that encourage the students to work, think, discuss – even
during the session on an Assessment task. This will be more effective pedagogically,
and in terms of your energy, than you answering all questions.

Student lead sessions

You may wish to delegate the teaching roles to students for some of the sessions or
some components. Give students a task for the following week that they will present in
eLive. You can give the students who are presenting Moderator status and allow them
to run the session, or ask them to email you a PowerPoint presentation that you upload
for them. You may wish to provide instructions on how to operate the basic eLive
controls.

Elluminate Live Guide 7

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

PARTICIPANT TOOLS:

eLive participants can:

1. Communicate:
– Use the Put up hand tool
– Talk when they click the microphone tool
– Type text – though this may make it difficult for you to manage the
session

2. Give feedback:
– Emoticons, Applause, Yes/No polling and quizzes

3. Draw on whiteboard

MODERATOR TOOLS:

Privilege Icons
The Moderator controls participant privileges with Privilege icons

Audio feature Whiteboard drawing tools

Text msg participants

Application Sharing

Managing the Interface:

Click on Privilege icons next to Participants’ name to turn off or on that
Participant’s ability to speak or type if you want to talk (don’t forget to turn
them on again!)
Students will raise hands to indicate they wish to speak, which will be
displayed as numbers 1, 2, 3 in order
When you are answering a question, you can click on the number to turn off
that Participant’s raised hand.

Elluminate Live Guide 8

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Whiteboard tools

The whiteboard may be used to:

1. Encourage participants to draw on whiteboard - you can then clear the
screen and go back or forward through the screens

2. Upload images

3. Upload PowerPoint slides

Toolbar

The toolbar contains the following buttons:

Window Layouts

Setup the window panels on the eLive interface

Polling Students

Ask a question, ask students to answer yes or no, and publish results to
the whiteboard..

Desktop sharing
Share an application allows students can see or work with a document on
your computer - enter text or numbers or perform calculations.

Graphing Calculator

Moderator and Participants can use and share control of the Graphing
Calculator

Elluminate Live Guide 9

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Multimedia library

You can share MPEG, QuickTime and Flash files or File Transfer. The
Moderator can send files to all Participants

Quiz Library

Create a series of questions and save the file

This set of questions becomes part of a Quiz Library you can give to
students during an eLive session

File Transfer Window

Send files from your computer to Participants

Display video
Display video feed, webcam etc. Diminishes performance of
eLive so use briefly only.

Go on Web Tour

Visit websites with students. You can then click the ‘Publish URL’ button
so the link appears in the Chat Window for students to access during
session or while watching recording.

Elluminate Live Guide 10

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Prior to your eLive session set up a browser window with each of the web
sites you wish to visit in eLive so you can copy the web addresses for
ease and accuracy

Elluminate Live Guide 11

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Sample Communications to Students:

Sample Post 1 - Introductory Statement and Resources

eLive is the program that allows us to have a "eLive Room" - a live meeting
space. eLive is a Synchronous Chat tool - a more powerful version of other chat
programs you may have used - that allows us have discussions, tutorials or
social chat live, and which requires speakers and mike and/or a headset.

The eLive Room will be open on the first day of semester, where you will be
able to interact live with colleagues and with teaching staff at announced
times. There are also scheduled eLive sessions to assist you in your studies in
the Unit – you will find the dates and times in the Unit Guide.

It is recommended that you visit the ELive Room link on the homepage and
read the documents about using eLive (these links are also listed below). The
first time you use eLive you will need to set up your computer - and please
note that you will need to plug in your headset or mike before launching your
eLive session.

Here is a brief overview of eLive:

http://www.deakin.edu.au/dso/student/elive/index.php

You can find information on the features of eLive here:

http://www.deakin.edu.au/dso/student/guides/qg-eLive-participants.pdf

Instructions on how to set up your computer are here:

http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/dso/getting-started/elive.php.

If you have any technical problems, please ring ITS for assistance:
Geelong: 522 72400
Melbourne: 924 46400
Warrnambool: 556 33400
Australia: 1800 721 720

Elluminate Live Guide 12

March 2009
 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences

Sample Post 2 – Reminder + Date/Time announcement and

Instructions

Hi everyone,
hopefully by now you have organised mike + speakers, or a headset and tried
out eLive.... (if not, see instructions below).

I am scheduling the first session at <time> on <day> <date>. This will be

an introductory session, for you to familiarise yourself with the eLive
environment and tools, and to ask questions about the course or the
Assignment.

Please log in to the eLive session a few days prior to our meeting so you can
download the Java and test your mike, speakers, headset etc. If you are using
dialup connection to the internet (slow) the download of the Java files could
take some time.

Here are the instructions on setting up you computer for eLive.

The steps are:
1. Plug in your speakers, microphone or headset.
2. Log in to the Unit website.
3. Go to eLive Room > eLive Room
4. Click on the Session name (your unit)
5. A series of dialog boxes will ask your permission to install, or accept license
agreement – click “Yes” or “I Agree”.
6. When the Install file window opens, click "Open" not "Save"
7. The eLive program Elluminate will launch.
8. Choose your connection speed (if you are at Deakin, select “LAN”)
9. Test the Audio sound and recording volume by clicking: Tools > Audio >
Audio Set Up Wizard
10.You may now speak by clicking the microphone icon on the bottom left.
When you have finished speaking, click the microphone icon again to turn
it off to allow others to speak.

If you have any technical problems, please ring ITS on 1800 721 720 for
assistance.

It would be great if you could let me know if you intend to join by leaving a
message in the discussion forum on DSO. eLive is great fun, and will be an
important part of your learning at Deakin so I would love to see you all there!

Elluminate Live Guide 13

March 2009