communicationtools

=Communication Tools=

AKA Collaboration Tools

General Information E-Mail & Listservs Discussion Forums Online Communities Instant/Text Messaging - Twitter Chat Rooms Videoconferencing Voice Over IP (VoIP) - Skype Virtual Worlds - Second Life Miscellaneous

Also see Blogs, Wikis, Social Networking, Podcasting, Netiquette, Communicating with Parents in Parents and Families

**GENERAL INFORMATION**
Better Learning with ICT [Information and communication technologies] - Online Communities in the Classroom [] Wonderful information about using social networking tools in the classroom! There are videos and links to lots of information. This is on the TeacherTV site, [] which is a fantastic resource for many topics about teaching. Pocket Mod - the free disposable pocket organizer! http://www.pocketmod.com/

Web Collaboration http://thinkofit.com/webconf/index.htm “The site is designed as an independent, objective, and comprehensive index of tools and resources in the area of online communication, including conferencing, collaborative work, e-learning, and online communities. Both commercial and freeware tools are covered.”

Communication http://vudat.msu.edu/communication/

Guidelines for Developing Accessible Asynchronous Communication and Collaboration Tools http://ncam.wgbh.org/salt/guidelines/sec6.html

Guidelines for Developing Accessible Synchronous Communication and Collaboration Tools http://ncam.wgbh.org/salt/guidelines/sec7.html

Online Writing Labs (OWL) http://people.emich.edu/mgraupne/OWLhomepage.html

Online Learners Guide – Communication [|http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~d-ctel/OLG/module1/nav-5.php]

Now We’re Talking – Glossary http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/glossary
 * This site ** “explains the terminology, jargon and acronyms often encountered in telecommunications.” – and other areas of technology.

Cellphone Safety Tips []

Communication Tools [] This list is under the ‘Nonprofit Internet Toolkit and Resources’ area of the Davis Community Network page. Blogs, Wikis, and IM: Communication Tools for Subject Specialists [] Geared toward higher education Will Facebook and Twitter Become Communication Tools or Identity Platforms? [] Communication Tools [Horizon K12 Project] [] This part is just one of the twelve areas – in the one ‘Time-to-Adoption: One year or Less’. For more information about the Horizon.K12 Project, “which will produce a report focusing on emerging technology and its applications for K-12 education” go to [] Collaboration Tools [] You can link to the paper (PDF) from here or the direct link: []

(free account is limited) Explain Everything: Collaborative & Interactive Whiteboard http://explaineverything.com/ The free account is limited. ($ - no free accounts) Notable http://notableapp.com/

Addressing Bumps in the Collaboration Road []

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC) [] This online journal, which is from International Communication Association, has got some very interesting articles related to communication technologies.

About Google Wave []

Google Wave [Wikipedia] []

E-MAIL& LISTSERVS
Tips for Managing E-Mail http://www.seniortechcenter.org/email/tips_for_managing_email.php?search_term=email%20listserv

Control Your Email [] This is Chapter 1 in The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better.

4 ways to take control of your e-mail Inbox []

Email Management: 10 Rules For Taking Back Control of Your Inbox []

How to Keep Your Email Inbox Under Control [] This is from eHow, which gives information about "How To Do Just About Everything".

Glossary of computer terms [Note the source: Funny Emails] http://funnyemails.uni.cc/contents/funny-emails/computer_terms_glossary-20070707174/

Anti-spam techniques (e-mail) [Wikipedia] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-spam_techniques_%28e-mail%29

What Is an E-mail Discussion Group [Listserv]? http://www.seniortechcenter.org/email/what_is_a_listserv.php?search_term=email%20listserv

Dos and Don'ts for Participating in an E-mail Discussion Groups http://www.seniortechcenter.org/email/listserv_dos_and_donts.php?search_term=email%20listserv

video] How to Control Your E-Mail In Box http://chronicle.com/media/audio/v54/i18/techtherapy This is an interview with Warren Arbogast by Scott Carlson of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Note that the video starts when you go to the site. [approx. 11 minutes] **This video is no longer available as a web page**. It is now part of ‘Insight24’* which requires a free registration to view the podcast. The new link is []
 * Insight24 is “a business-to-business directory of webcasts, podcasts, videos, online demos and corporate videos. Insight24 provides timely, and relevant, information for day-to-day business and technology decisions. Insight24 is your single source for information, intelligence, and insight.” (from About Insight24 [])

DISCUSSION FORUMS
Article: Keeping Online Asynchronous Discussions on Topic http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v3n2/v3n2_beaudin.asp This article is by Bart P. Beaudin at Colorado State University. The home page of the site in which this article was printed is the Asynchronous Learning Networks, which is at the URL: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/index.asp

Article: Keeping the Thread: Adapting Conversational Practice to Help Distance Students and Instructors Manage Discussions in an Asynchronous Learning Network [|http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/deos/deosnews/deosnews9_2.asp] This article is by Donald J. Winiecki at Boise State University. This article comes from the American Center for the Study of Distance Education (ACSDE) at the College of Education at Penn State University. ACSDE’s home page is at the URL: http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/

(article) Does Feedback Influence Student Postings to Online Discussions? by Katrina A. Meyer http://www.thejeo.com/Volume4Number1/MeyerFinal.pdf

(article) E-Conferencing for Instruction: What Works? by Shufang Shi and Blaine Victor Morrow http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm06/eqm0646.asp?bhcp=1

Article: Keeping Online Asynchronous Discussions on Topic http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v3n2/v3n2_beaudin.asp This article is by Bart P. Beaudin at Colorado State University. The home page of the site in which this article was printed is the Asynchronous Learning Networks, which is at the URL: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/index.asp

Article: Keeping the Thread: Adapting Conversational Practice to Help Distance Students and Instructors Manage Discussions in an Asynchronous Learning Network [|http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/deos/deosnews/deosnews9_2.asp] This article is by Donald J. Winiecki at Boise State University. This article comes from the American Center for the Study of Distance Education (ACSDE) at the College of Education at Penn State University. ACSDE’s home page is at the URL: http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/

ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Communities http://www.cooltools.net.au/communities.htm#exploring_communities

Google Groups http://groups.google.com/ You can set up a grooup, participate in one, or use the “searchable archive of more than 700 million Usenet postings from a period of more than 20 years.”

Yahoo! Groups http://groups.yahoo.com/ “Connect with a world of people who share your passions. With millions of groups at your fingertips, it's easy to find the group that's best for you -- no matter your interest.”

ProBoards http://www.proboards.com/index.html

Tapped In http://tappedin.org/tappedin/ “The online workplace of an international community of education professionals. K-12 teachers, librarians, administrators, and professional development staff, as well as university faculty, students, and researchers gather here to learn, collaborate, share, and support one another.”

Learning Times http://www.learningtimes.org/ This is “an open community for education and training professionals. Members have ** free ** access to a wide range of opportunities to interact and network with peers from across the globe. Member activities include live webcasts … online debates and discussions .. [and it] also features free group collaboration tools, such as virtual meeting rooms, a site-wide instant messenger, and virtual office suites, making it a vital place on the web for thousands of education professionals to meet and interact at any time.”

INSTANT/TEXT MESSAGING
Text Messaging Abbreviations http://webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp “Use this list of chat room and text messaging abbreviations to sort through what often can seem like a lot of gibberish.”

Comparison of Instant Messaging Clients http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_clients

5 Types of IM Clients: Discovering the Different Types of IM [] IMing, Text Messaging, and Adolescent Social Networks [] An article by Bryant, Sanders-Jackson and Smallwood from the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University on the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC) web site. The journal is now available at []

- TWITTER

Video: Twitter in Plain English http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

Forget E-Mail: New Messaging Service Has Students and Professors Atwitter http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i25/25a01501.htm

A Professor's Tips for Using Twitter in the Classroom http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2699

(video) Teaching with Twitter http://chronicle.com/media/video/v54/i25/twitter/ “A new service that allows people to send notes to a set list of recipients' cellphones is being used as a teaching tool by some professors and college librarians.”

Accessible Twitter [] "Accessible Twitter is an alternative to the Twitter.com website. It is designed to be easier to use and is optimized for disabled users." It is in Alpha stage of development.

VIDEO CONFERENCING
Also see Social Networking Tools for **//Social Eyes//**, which is a multi-user video sharing in //**Facebook**//. Also see //**Skype**// below.

Training for Videoconferencing Sessions http://www.uwex.edu/disted/training/

Videoconferencing for Learning http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/vidconf.html This site gives “information about using videoconferencing as a tool for instructional activities. It also includes a directory of videoconferencing sites, which you can search by state, country, or type of institution.”

(//suggestion//) Audio is so often the largest complaint about webinars, starting with the login. When the webinar is open prior to the start time, it would be nice to put a note on the screen/slide that there is no sound. Then when you do start to talk, change the slide to one that says that the participants should hear something now. - SWQ

VOICE OVER IP
Voice over Internet Protocol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VoIP

How Stuff Works: Skype vs Vonage http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/skype-vonage.htm

Comparison of VoIP Software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_VoIP_software

ooVoo http://www.oovoo.com/ This is a free tool that "has many great features — from video calls with up to six people at once to video messaging to chat and file transfer capabilities."

ooVoo Download http://www.download.com/ooVoo/3000-2348_4-10672161.html This download site describes it as "an iChat-like video conferencing and chat tool for Windows, loaded with useful, powerful tools that make it a viable alternative for small work groups using conference calls and screen-sharing applications. A recording feature lets users tape video chats with other participants. Since the video and audio are being recorded to the hard drive, the only time limit is how much free space the computer's hard drive has."

Windows Live Messenger (Windows only) http://get.live.com/messenger/overview

Yahoo! Messenger http://messenger.yahoo.com/

Yahoo! Web Messenger (beta version) http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/

iChat (Mac only) http://www.apple.com/support/ichat/

iVisit http://www.ivisit.com/ They have a special area for education

Jabbin (Windows and Linux; Mac in development) http://sourceforge.net/projects/jabbin

Eyeball Chat (Windows only) http://www.eyeballchat.com/ I like the name! They say they have live video chats and that you can “send video and text messages to your AIM, MSN and Yahoo! Buddies”

Wimba [commercial product?] http://www.wimba.com/ This is clearly aimed at education, both K-12 and higher education. They appear to have many services. They also emphasize the accessibility of their products. There is no mention of fees, but they never use the word ‘free’!

- SKYPE

Skype http://www.skype.com/ “Make calls from your computer — free to other people on Skype and cheap to landlines and cell phones around the world.”

About Skype http://about.skype.com/

Skype [Wikipedia] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

Skype VoIP Info - User Guide & Help http://www.hl7.com.au/Skype.htm

Hacking Skype: 25 Tips to Improve Your Skype Experience http://www.voip-news.com/feature/hacking-skype-020607/

Skype as a Second Language http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2516

VIRTUAL WORLDS
(article) What Happens in a Virtual World Has a Real-World Impact, a Scholar Finds http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i30/30a01402.htm

Why Digital Avatars Make the Best Teachers http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i30/30b02701.htm

iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail This is a “virtual resource center for those with autism”

- SECOND LIFE

Second Life by Ashley Windley http://edtech.usca.edu/courses/et793/sp07/wrt/windleywrt/index.html

Imagine a Person Who Is Blind Using Second Life http://www.sl-educationblog.org/?p=274

SLIS Facility in the Second Life World http://students.libsci.sc.edu/secondlife/ This is what the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at USC are calling Davis 2.0 (They are located in the Davis Building.) “…SLIS has been experimenting with a virtual world environment. A simulated library has been under development to help students adapt Web technology into practice.

Darwin's Famous Journey Is Recreated in Second Life http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3396&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) in Second Life http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Membership/Member_Networking/ISTE_Second_Life.htm

Teen Second Life http://teen.secondlife.com/ " Only teens between the ages of 13 and 17 are allowed in, so other than Linden Lab’s staff (Linden Liaisons) who are there to make Teen Second Life a safe and pleasant place to be, teens will interact with other teens their own age. Occasionally we may bring in teachers for special educational projects as well. When that happens we will always let residents know who they are and what type of project they’re working on."

MISCELLANEOUS
Voki [] “Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.”

Voice Thread [|http://voicethread.com/#home] “A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways  - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.”