Skype

After this week, I'm a Skype believer! Skype is an free internet calling product that allows one to conference in up to 25 users at once (per the help system). 

It is relatively easy to set up a Skype account, create a unique name, fill in the expected informational fields, and create a password. There is a profile page where one can add a "Mood" message, video, picture, etc. Once in Skype, I added our instructor as a contact. She had provided us with her Skype name; but there is a lookup feature in Skype where one can find people by Skype name, real name, or e-mail address. After adding a contact, they must confirm the contact, as in Facebook.

A conference call was started by selecting the group and clicking on the "Call" button.  One can choose to have an audio or video conference.   It is also possible to add people to a call once the call has been started. One of our participants had downloaded the Skype app to her iPhone and participated this way. Skype will also allow one to call landlines or cell phones; however, there is a small charge per minute for those calls (the iPhone with app was treated as a computer...no charge).

Skype has a chat feature which is active within the call. Skype allows screen sharing while in a call; this was something that we didn't try, but I would certainly like to attempt. The call quality was excellent. 

This is a free product that will allow for synchronous communication within an online course.  It gives one the ability to actually talk with students, set up virtual office hours, and study sessions.

The world of synchronous communication

This week provided an opportunity to look at different synchronous communication products.  Originally, I was interested in exploring dimdim. I had looked a little at this product about 3 months ago. It was also free, supported audio as well as video, desktop sharing, etc. However, looking at a couple of reviews this evening, it appears that the open source, free version is not being maintained. dimdim is now promoting another version of the product, dimdim pro. While competitively priced when compared to products like Elluminate and GoToMeeting, there is still a hefty cost involved. Also, going to the dimdim site and looking at the features of the open source product; it's not very clear about how many users are supported in a single conference. In one place it states that up to 5 users can be conferenced, in another place it states that 20 users can be conferenced.

This will require further review.

Polleverywhere

Polleverywhere.com is a web site that allows one to build audience response functionality into face-to-face and online events such as presentations and courses. It is easy to respond to prompts through cellphone text messaging, a direct web page interface, and even Twitter.

There is a free plan for polls which have 30 or less respondents; pricing is fairly flexible depending upon the presenter's needs.

It is quite easy to set up poll:

• Create an account
• Create a question
• If multiple choice, add responses
• Click the button

For a multiple choice question, the software will respond with the response codes and the number to which the response should be texted.  There are a number of options for displaying the data. One can opt to download  a PowerPoint slide (.ppt and .pptx formats are available) or can download the data to a spreadsheet.  Results are supposed to be almost instantaneous.

This product is quite interesting for courses with 30 or fewer students that do not have Clicker or other Response system software available for their use.