I have been looking at solutions for several years. If you had money to invest the best I have seen so far is Elluminate. There vClass product was constructed specifically for the education market. The instructor has full control of what each participant can and can not do. There is a simple poll program where you can ask True/False or up to A,B,C,D,E,F. They do offer "Three for Free" but that is really only helpful for some initial testing. http://www.elluminate.com/
We as an agency are using DimDim (Now that I watched 'Night at the Museum I keep thinning of the Easter Island Statue). The program can do video, but our tech committee consensus is that the video is not that big of a deal. The other features such as shared white board, Desktop Sharing, and file uploading are really the tools needed for remote meetings. Best of all DimDim is free and will allow up to 20 people in a room. Need more rooms, just sign up for more accounts. DimDim also offers a "Open Source" version of the software that you can run yourself without the 20 person limit. I looks like the Open Source version is the previous commercial version. DimDim works well on both Windows and Mac systems. http://www.dimdim.com If anyone wants to see a demo of either program I have accounts at both and I can send you an invite to test. From: Richardson,Tony Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 4:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [info-tech] Ideas for Desktop Video Conferencing Anyone out there experimenting with desktop video conferencing. I would like to start experimenting with using this internally for staff but it needs to be simple to use with control on the client side of things so that they don't feel like they are being spied on. I know there is Microsoft Netmeeting and Windows Communicator but don't need all that just something simple to use and cheap that allow multiple people to face to face meet via video. Thanks, Tony Richardson, Technology Coordinator Humboldt Community School District [email protected]
