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Software/Website
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Pros
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Cons
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Skype
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Available on all major platforms
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Free
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Easily accessible
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Well-known
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Instant messaging
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Recordable
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No co-browsing; could prove difficult to lead
a webinar when everyone has to find their own pages.
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Connect Now
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Available on all major platforms
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Part of the Adobe line, close tie-in with
Acrobat and Reader
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Whiteboard features for multiple contribution
and feedback
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License purchase necessary
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There doesn’t seem to be a way to upload
documents and make them easily sharable, which I would assume an Adobe
product would be able to do.
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Tiny Chat
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Quick and easy video chatrooms
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Free
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No downloads required.
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Anyone else think this seems like a really sketchy website? Could be all too easy to stumble upon
something undesired.
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Meeting Burner
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Has a free option for up to 10 participants and
e-mail support.
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Screen sharing helps with partial co-browing
that programs such as Skype do not allow.
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Requires a purchase to increase functionality.
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Recordings are not free.
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Go To Meeting
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Webinar and Training options for increased interaction
among participants.
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Mobile support.
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Holy expensive packages Batman!
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Some features not available across all
platforms
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Yugma
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Skype add-on
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Allows collaboration
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Presenter/audience differentiation with ability
to change presenters
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Not available across all platforms
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Not free
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Webex
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Part of the aforementioned Cisco machine.
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HD video! Great for those multimillion dollar
conferences!!!
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Expensive
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Most of these I never foresee myself using, as they have features that are in my opinion more for business-y settings that I will ever experience. At one point in my senior year of undergrad I believe I participated in a Go To Meeting seminar as part of a experimental observation procedure for New York State education (I dropped put because my student teaching placement was a nightmare). I particularly enjoy how Yugma is available as an add-on to Skype, increasing the functionality of an application that many college students already will have installed on their computers; reaching the masses and the typical computer user is a great product model, so in regards to the collaboration aspect Yugma comes out on top for me. On a last note, I'm going to avoid Tinychat like the plague....
I agree with you I felt like these websites were not useful in education. I mean the only one I can see students use is the Skype because of the familarity. I haven't experienced any of these myself. But I woud like to try them out.
ReplyDeleteI had many similar pros and cons. I didn't like how many of the sites seemed expensive. I also agree that Tiny Chat is pretty sketchy from the moment you open the website. I found these sites more useable by teachers and schools instead of students. I know someone who trains schools on new software using Go To Meeting and apparently the site works fine.
ReplyDeleteI agree that most of these video conferencing tools are more for business than for education. I have only used Skype in the past and therefore was most familiar and comfortable with it. I read an article once about a student who was ill and could not go to school for awhile. Her teacher set up a skype time in class where the student was able to join the class for discussion and could see her peers. This enabled the girl to continue to grow not only academically, but socially as well.
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