PowWow
This is what PC Magazine "August 13, 1998) said about this product:
"PowWow 3.6, from Tribal Voice,
is on the path to bringing online community hosting to the masses. Available
as a free download, PowWow is aimed at building rich virtual communities
with support for text and voice chat, point-to-multipoint communications,
bulletin boards, web tours, and file transfers...PowWow is ideal for existing
Web-savvy groups or small communities that
need to communicate in an environment where they control the participants."
What does that mean? You can use this free download to communicate with one person, or with many. And, you can communicate using text, or if your computer is multimedia ready- you can actually talk, in real time, to anyone anywhere! To help you understand the possibilties, visit a web site that talks about this product and distance learning at Baylor University.
ICQ
ICQ ("I seek you") is a wonderful product you can download from Mirabilis.com. The advantage to this software, is that it maintains a list of friends, and will let you know when they are on the net. No longer do you need to scounge around to see who is available to chat- this software does it for you! From a student standpoint, it means they can tell immediately if you are online and available to answer questions. Phone calls still exist, and so there are alternatives, but products like this are especially nice when students are having a problem with online course materials. The student can see immediately that you also are on line, and they can request a chat. Then, they can describe any problem they are having and check out solutions because they are still connected to the Internet. This saves a great deal of trouble compared to the student signing off the note, placing a phone call, getting advice, reconnecting to the Internet only to find they didn't understnad the advice they were given. The support Mirabilis provides is very good, and in many cases, you will need to assistance from your network operator to install and begin using this intuitive software.
Microsoft NetMeeting
Microsoft can intrioduce this product themselves:
Microsoft NetMeeting 2.1 can be downloaded here for free. Audio and video conferencing are both supported as well as application sharing and file transfer. It is a realistic way to hold a meeting with people from all over the world! While I have not tried it, Microsoft claims that even over a 14.4 modem, the audio is easily understood. Using a $49 QuickCam you can be seen by 15 of your favorite students, and never leave your office.