elearning: Web Conferencing 2.0

Notes from Ronda Edwards and Barry Dahl's Presentation on "Web Conferencing 2.0: the Old, the New & the Difference"

Commercial
Elluminate
Wimba
GoToMeeing
Webex

Web 2.0
Vyew
DimDim
WiZiQ
Mikogo
Yugma

The Difference
Cost
Web-based or install
Features

Features
meeting set up
participant notification
participant login
audio features & quality
Whiteboard features
doument sharing
desktop sharing
participant chat (chatroom)
video features and quality (webcam)
archiving

Possible Uses
Foreign Language courses
speech course
office hours
advising
help desk
professional development/training

What we learned:
In some cases, audio quality is imprefect. (Lag time) Some offer a conference call option
Where available, wecam/video does not add much
Some roadblocks with Internet connections -slow speeds

Yugma Free (can upgrade to Yugma Pro):
Set up quick and easy to do
automatically sends out email inviation
participants do need to download a client in order to get on
has a skype option
yugma webinar where you can schedule out, have a registration page with what time they came in and what time they left (this is not in the free version though)

Mikogo
more of a screen sharing tool
doesn't have built in whiteboard
account creation easy
good for help desk situation
participant can give you control of their desktop
up to 10 participants
no video
no archiving
but good for screensharing

WiziQ
Community of teachers who will teach online to you
easy set up
no download
good audio
good for tutoring (math) because white board with math and grid functions
can give students access to student to work on whiteboard with you
with upgrade can work with moogle ?

Vyew
free and 2 levels of upgrades 20 max (vyew plus which has 25 people, pro 45)
chat, share, view, adds (first 3 people don't see adds?)
no install, no download
inviation manager
whiteboard with drawing
archive and record
can call in on a bridge

DimDim
Can upgrade to pro
Can upload your powerpoint or other document can also show it on your desktop which shows more types of documents with screen show
Use free phone bridge (elimates 2 second lag over the computer) dial in number and passcode
Whiteboard
Can also load webpages (load it into dimdim) or show on desktop again
Open Source Edition ? for own hosting ?
Up to 3 other people on microphone besides presenter
Can give up presentator controls to another person
chat on the right side
has recording capabilities with archiving function
You can schedule out or quick conference in

SynchroLive

WebEx costs alot of money and liscense keeps shifting

Barry has used alot of experience. If someone else is buying it for you you can use programs like WebEx or Connect but really thinks DimDim is a good solution, especially in the time of budget cuts. He really likes Vyew too (downfall is the adds) but they create a book that saves tutorial session.