Web Conferences

Overview:

In this lab you will learn about various methods of synchronous communication on the web–above and beyond text chat. Technologies exist that let you broadcast your voice and/or what you see on your own computer screen to other folks online.  Pretty sweet, huh??

Objectives:

1. Record a Skype conversation (audio + video + screen sharing)
2. Host or join a Vyew web conference session (referred to as a “Vyew book”)
3. Broadcast yourself live using USTREAM

The More You Know:

Skype

As most of you know, Skype is a program that facilitates secure, encrypted Voice-over-IP (VoIP) communication, as well as video and screen-sharing.  In plain english, Skype allows you to “call” other Skype users for free over the internet.  For a small fee you can also call telephones and cellphones from the application.  The audio quality is typically superior to what the traditional telephone and cellphone infrastructures allow.

• If you do not have Skype, download it here
• Call one of your classmates and:
  • Enable your webcam and have a video chat
  • Turn on screen sharing and share a portion of your computer screen
    

As we saw in the RELATe keynote, an innovative and exciting use of Skype for education is to conduct and record interviews with experts!

Legal disclaimer: recording telephone conversations without consent is considered highly illegal in most countries around the world (excluding Texas).  Be sure to ask all parties in the conversation if it is OK to record.

A popular Windows-based tool that lets you do this is MX Skype Recorder, which is available in a trial version.  Mac users can use the Ecamm Call Recorder

How do you use Skype for education?

Vyew

VYEW is another web conferencing program that lets you share your desktop, and save any notes or annotations you make to uploaded documents. To get started:

• go to the Vyew website and sign up for an account
• check out some of the example uses of Vyew
• either start a new session and invite one of your classmates, or join one of your classmates’ sessions (if the “invite” tool doesn’t work you can just email your “vyew book” url to folks)

USTREAM

Have you always wanted to have a live broadcast channel, but never made it to the public access tv studio?  Well USTREAM lets you broadcast live from the comfort of your home (or classroom)!

Some tips for getting started:

• Visit the USTREAM Getting Started page
• The broadcasting/recording interface appears in a pop-up window so you’ll need to allow those for ustream.com
• If you run into trouble, check out the help center
• Tune in to Brandon’s USTREAM channel below and see if he’s broadcasting!

Live TV : Ustream

Your Performance Tasks:

For this lab, please complete two of the following three options:

1. Pair up with someone else in the class and make a Skype call.  Using either MX Skype Recorder (PC) or Ecamm Call Recorder (Mac) both parties need to record a portion of the conversation and submit the recording to this lab’s discussion forum.
2. Join or host a Vyew “book”.
   • Someone attending the “book” needs to upload at least one document
   • Everyone attending: add comments, drawings or other annotations to the document
   • Grab either Brandon or Emily and show them your annotated document
3. Start a USTREAM channel and record a broadcast

Due Date:

All tasks for this lab must be completed by 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 20th. If you choose to use USTREAM and/or Skype, please submit a link to your product below.  If you choose to use Vyew, please show Brandon or Emily your annotated document.