Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Todd Thornton -
Number of replies: 46

Not sure if this is the best place to post, but my yearly account with Goto Meeting is about up and I wanted some input or comments about different options for conferencing. I believe an Elluminate module was just released for Moodle a couple of weeks ago, but I've never had any experience with Elluminate. I think other options would include Convoq and Web Ex as well as a few other smaller startups.

For those using any of these,(or other programs not listed) can you give me the good, the bad, and/or the ugly?

Sincerely,
Todd Thornton

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In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Art Lader -
Hi, Todd,

I am a little out of my depth here, but I have heard good things from some folks about this - http://www.dimdim.com/ . Maybe it is worth a look.

I have used this Skype add-on in the past and it has worked pretty well - http://www.unyte.net/. May not be robust enough for you, though.

Anyway, I hope that helps a bit.

Regards,
Art
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Todd Thornton -

Thanks Art. I'll try out DimDim. I also use Skype and that might be the best way to go for simple small web conferences when detailed illustrations are not needed.

I was doing research on the web and came across someone named Robin Good who seems to do reviews on this type of software. I'm providing the link to his list of companies that offer this type of service. (I think he sells detailed reports, but the initial information should be free) It looks like it was last updated in 2005 which would explain the lack of the newest programs.  

http://www.masternewmedia.org/reports/webconferencing/guide/toc.htm 

Sincerely,
Todd Thornton

Average of ratings: Cool (1)
In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Art Lader -
Let us know how it goes, Todd!
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Josep M. Fontana -
Hi Art,

Thanks very much for pointing us to Unyte. I don't need (yet) large scale conferencing software but a free nifty little tool like Unyte can be really useful in some situations to help friends or students with problems or to do some kinds of collaborative work a little more comfortable. My problem with it, though is that in my tests it was very slow. I tried a connection with my own laptop via a wi-fi network and it was pretty slow. Then I tried it with a friend and his computer basically froze.

I'm wondering if you are any people who have tried Unyte have experienced similar problems.
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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Art Lader -
Hi, Josep,

Hmm... Sorry to hear about the performance problems. We used it a couple of times at Moodlerooms and I have used it a few times personally and it was okay.

That was at least a couple of months ago, though. Maybe something has changed.

Regards,
Art
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Todd Thornton -

I'm going to try Unyte this weekend, but I ran across a post I thought was interesting on another site that might be of some benefit to people reading this thread. Someone came up with the idea of using Unyte and Skype (already integrated) in conjunction with SmartBoard whiteboard software to add a whiteboard with recording features. You just share the whiteboard program using Unyte. I've never used a whiteboard in the classroom so I don't know how licensing works, but here's the link he gave.

 www.smarttech.com/support/software/sb_win.asp

It looks like maybe you now have to register the software program with a serial number you receive with a purchase (maybe Smartboard got wind of how the program was being used). I thought it was an interesting idea worthy of a post.

P.S. I did also run across a couple of posts about a slight delay when using Unyte. I'll post my experiences after I try it out for a couple of days.

Todd

Average of ratings: Cool (1)
In reply to Art Lader

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Josep M. Fontana -
Thanks Art and Todd,

Well, I'll wait to see what Todd's experiences are like. Probably there several factors at play: one is obviously bandwith, but the conditions of computers involved (memory, cpu power, etc) might also play a role. In this respect, my friend (the one I did the testing with) computer's is pretty crappy, anyway and it often hangs on him with some applications that are resource hungry. So this might be one of them.
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Julian Ridden -
DimDim is showing alot of promise, but it is not quite there yet.

The developers are keen to have a good Moodle interface tie-in.

So to sum up..definatly a product to keep an eye on, but not quite mature enough yet for production use.
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In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Tony Hursh -
I'm glad to hear that development is going forward on DimDim. It looks like it's going to be great when it all comes together.

I installed it on a test server a month or so ago and came to much the same conclusion -- very promising, but not quite ready for prime time (if I remember right, it was described as alpha software, so that's not at all a critcism; I was quite impressed with what I saw, in fact).



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In reply to Tony Hursh

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Manish Verma -
In open source out of three options:
  1. NEW,
  2. DimDim,
  3. Web Huddle.
NEW is full featured, looks fully functional but requires dedicated server and does not have tight integration. There are different windows for different things making it user unfriendly.

DimDim has a long way to go.

Web Huddle has tight integration. The layout may not look professional but works well. Sound quality is not good enough otherwise this could be very useful.
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In reply to Manish Verma

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Tony Hursh -
NEW is full featured

The last time I looked at it, NEW didn't work with Mac or (I thought) Linux, so that makes it a non-starter for us.

I haven't tried WebHuddle. Thanks for the tip!

Gong is free, but not open-source. It seems to have decent Moodle integration.


Update: I just checked the NEW site and they say they support Linux, but still no Mac support. Many of our students and just about all of our faculty and staff use Macs, so....



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In reply to Tony Hursh

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Manish Verma -
Gong seems to be a voice tool and looks useful in voice board. However, when there are several free voice conferencing tools available (Skype can support hundreds now) that do not put load on server then I wonder its usage in synchronous teaching.

Vyew is a great free tool (whiteboard better than many paid systems+PowerPoint+desktop sharing+....) but does not have audio via VOIP and recording features.
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In reply to Manish Verma

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Hmm, Vyew looks really nice! That's the kind of thing I was waiting for.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by James Phillips -
That's an interesting business model. A couple of things caught my eye though (haven't looked too carefully yet);

Free Tele- conferencing

Each VyewBook comes with a free call-in number to enable multi-way teleconferencing.

Note: Long-distance charges may apply.

And:


Always FREE

Vyew started as a FREE web conferencing and collaboration tool and a useful free version will always be available.

  • Sign-up for Vyew for FREE and be confident that your VyewBook content will always be available – we will never charge you to access VyewBooks created in the free version(s) of Vyew.
  • Upgrade at-will, without losing your work, to take advantage of new features that may only be available to paid subscribers.

I would be pretty interested to see their roadmap as they are obviously planning on bringing in "premium services" at some point. Looks like the bulk of their income will be through paid advertising though. An interesting approach though. Looks like the web conferencing scene is developing into quite a tussle!
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In reply to James Phillips

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Anil Sharma -

We are successully using www.vyew.com for the past few months. When a teacher starts a meeting, each meeting has a unique url. We create a resource inside moodle (link to the meeting url) and students login as guests ... no need for them to register anywhere !

The only thing missing in VYEW is audio, if it were VOIP enabled, it would be great.

Is there no free or advertisment based service allowing video and voice conferencing at all ?

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In reply to Anil Sharma

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Mike Bubyn -

Is anybody using ePresence ?

I’m about to recommend it to a client. They need it for capturing the presenter and the slides, with the ability to ask questions.

It looks like a solid solution to me, but I haven’t seen much on it from this community.

Any reason why?

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In reply to James Phillips

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Frances Bell -
Here is the pricing model one year (approx) down the line.
http://vyew.com/content/Prices

Pricing and Sign-up


STARTER PACKAGES
The Right Technology, The Right Price

FREE PLUS PROFESSIONAL
Advertising in interface Has Ads Ad-Free**
# of Sessions Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
VyewBooks Included* 4 10 20
VyewBook Page Limit 50 100 300
Real-time Participants
(Ad-Free/Max)** 		NA/20 5/25** 15/45**
SSL Secure Login Yes Yes Yes
Custom Room ID No Optional Optional
Custom Color Themes Limited Limited + Optional Limited + Optional
Custom Ad No No Optional
File Uploads per Month 10 50 100
PRICES
Take advantage of our super-low prices.
Pay Monthly FREE $9.95/mo $19.95/mo
Annually (Save 20%) NA $7.95/mo $15.95/mo
2 Years (Save 30%) NA $6.95/mo $13.95/mo

OPTIONAL ADD-ONS
Customize and add even more power
FREE PLUS PROFESSIONAL
Custom Room ID N/A $10/yr
Custom Color Themes $5/mo
Custom Ad N/A $5/mo (plus $50 set-up fee)
Additional VyewBooks $5/mo for 20 more
Additional Ad-Free Participants $5/mo for 5 more
Additional File Uploads $5/mo for 50 more



*What is a "VyewBook"?
A VyewBook is a collection of pages created and saved together in Vyew for collaborating on during LIVE conferences and asynchronously over time, ANYTIME. VyewBooks give users the ability to easily author new content and collaborate on almost any file, including Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF and image files. You can create and save multiple VyewBooks at a time - saving content by topic, audience or version - and invite specific persons to specific VyewBooks. VyewBooks can be switched on-demand during LIVE conferences or left unlocked for collaborators to review or add to over time, ANYTIME.


**What are ‘Ad-Free Participants’ and ‘Overflow Participants’?
Vyew gives you choice in how to add real-time participant capacity for live conferences. Ad Free participants are the number of participants who will not see advertising at any time. Subscribers start with a number of Ad Free participants included, and can add more as needed. Alternatively, subscribers can choose to use an allotment of FREE Overflow Participants for use whenever extra capacity is needed – but Overflow Participants may see ads.

Example: The PLUS starter package comes with 5 Ad-Free participants who will see no advertising. Then, up to 20 more people can participate for FREE as Overflow Participants who will see ads in their interface. 5 Ad-Free + 20 Overflow = 25 max participants. Or, you can choose to buy more Ad-Free participants as an add-on to your PLUS starter package, up to a max of 25 Ad-Free participants.



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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Atia Cortes -
Hi,
is it possible the integration of Vyew with moodle? there is no tutorial or reference on the web page...
Atia
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In reply to Manish Verma

My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Daniel Brouse -
I've been trying to find a low cost conferencing solution but haven't come up with a clear winner yet. The major problems are:
1) I haven't decided exactly how I want to use it. I have 3 different Moodle installations - one to support my classroom teaching and provide hybrid teaching, another is for the faculty union website and the last is a commercial website for my father where people pay for classes. Unfortunately the last project isn't really "off the ground" yet and so it isn't providing any income to invest in my projects.
2) I am unwilling to spend much money because any money earmarked for such things should be going to Moodle (I haven't contributed any yet but it is becoming a higher priority all the time!)
3) I have limited technical skills - I am a biology instructor so any requirements regarding of advanced ability in computers, telephony, and/or programming would be a major hurdle for me.

My summary of progress
Dimdim hasn't worked for me after several attempts using Firefox and IE. I attempted to test it at:
Hosted server: www1.dimdim.com

Username: demo1

Password: demo1
I just tried it again and IT WORKED. So I rushed back to make this edit. Now I just need to schedule a time to try to actually accomplish something with another collaborator.
Yugma was the solution I thought I would settle on after doing my initial review of possible solutions. Some of the features I would like are only available for the trial period or via a premium type account. The Yugma plugin for Skype seems like a winner because of the VOIP features of Skype and due to other Skype plugins that would extend functionality. Unfortunately, Skype kept crashing in my tests.
Vyew worked smoothly - after I got used to it's layout. I am probably going to evaluate it some more. I would like a solution I can install on a server however and the pricing structure may not work with the groups I am contemplating using this for (classes of 20-70 students).
Vmukti has lots of promise(s) but I haven't been able to get it to work.
Web-Huddle worked for me but it's interface depresses me and it is missing many of the features I would like to use.
Zoho has an interesting set of solutions but they don't have the integrated approach I am envisioning.

I am currently looking into ePresence but am skeptical that it will work smoothly on my current (very low cost) hosted solution. Maybe I'll be surprised.

Here are some additional reviews that will probably be more helpful than my vague comments above:
http://www.webconferencing-test.com/site/eng/chart_of_results.html
http://www.webconferencing-test.com/site/eng/additional_solutions.php

Well this wasn't very coherent but I'll post it anyway in the hopes it will be useful to someone.

Daniel
p.s. I think I've been spoiled by Moodle routinely exceeding my expectations.
Average of ratings: Coolest thing ever! (1)
In reply to Daniel Brouse

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by John Wabel -
If you're looking for larger numbers of people you should check out Quopax.com
The audio rooms of Cloudspeak handle the larger classes and the screensharing of Glance goes up to 100 people. The whiteboarding becomes a bit impractical with so many people but because it has 7 whiteboards per room having 80 people really wouldn't too bad.
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In reply to John Wabel

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Anthony Borrow -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
One of the names that has come up for conferencing is SonicFoundry's MediaSite. Does any one have experience with that software? The demos I have seen seem to indicate that they are able to do video feed along with capturing of a presentation and interaction with receiving questions. It seems well suited for doing a live conference. I am curious about how it works out for folks who use it in the real world. Peace - Anthony
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In reply to Anthony Borrow

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Deb Burdick-Hinton -
Does not look like you ever got input on this. I am curious about the Moodle-Mediasite Integeration as well. Very impressed with the product!
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In reply to Daniel Brouse

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Manish Verma -
Hi,

Since you are looking for a solution which can be installed on the server and is low cost, you may have a look at NEW. It is feature rich and I believe it surpasses almost all* the products mentioned by you in this respect.

*Except ePresence which I have not tested.
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In reply to Manish Verma

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Anthony Borrow -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Manish - Thanks for sharing the "NEW"s. The only downside to NEW is that it does require the installation of software for the client. For me it is important that students and participants not have to install software to participate in the conferences. Peace - Anthony
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In reply to Anthony Borrow

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Tony Hursh -
Also, it doesn't work on the Mac, which is a serious drawback for us (but maybe not for others). Our faculty is about 75% Mac users, and quite a few of our students are as well.


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In reply to Tony Hursh

Browser based cross platform

by Manish Verma -
For browser based cross platform usage, authorlive comes to my mind besides the most common names that you must be familiar with.

Vyew, now has VOIP and webcam. However, recording feature is still missing in Vyew which authorlive has.
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In reply to Manish Verma

Re: Browser based cross platform

by Anthony Borrow -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Manish - Thanks, it is good to know the various options that are available. I was unfamiliar with authorlive. I think I will stick with DimDim since it is open source but having options is always a good thing. Peace - Anthony
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In reply to Manish Verma

Re: My evaluation of Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Daniel Brouse -
It would be nice if the NEW Demo Portal (http://netlab.gmu.edu/NEW/demoPortal.shtml) worked for me. Is anyone else getting the following error?

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /~pmcandre/devel/devdisted/index.php on this server.

Thanks for all of the feedback.


Average of ratings: -
In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Andy Diament -

I don't know about best, but, as part of my Open University project, I'm trying to keep a list of collaborative/whiteboard/videoconferencing services, and products.

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/synchrosystem/index.php/A_world_of_Synchronous_Packages

Not everything has a link yet but there are plenty of names to search on, and I've tried to indicate which are on SourceForge.

Many (Most?) of the names that are on there are from the forums here (including this thread!). I find this topic comes up over and over.

Not exhaustive, few judgements, suggestions welcome

Andy D

Average of ratings: Very cool (1)
In reply to Andy Diament

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Art Lader -
Great! Thank you for sharing that resource, Andy.
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In reply to Andy Diament

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Clark Moodler -
Speaking of Open Univeristy, and conferencing software: the FlashMeeting is one of the best things I've seen out there!

http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/

Love the Open University's OpenLearn Lab Space! (it's all Moodle and has incorporated Flashmeeting)

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/

cheers,
clark


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In reply to Clark Moodler

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Art Lader -
Thanks for that post, Clark. I did not know about FlashMeeting.

-- Art
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In reply to Andy Diament

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Clark Moodler -
Another good one but with audio/text only: it allows asynchronous OR synchronous use (genius!)

http://yackpack.net

And such a simple 1 page interface. You can really easily <iframe> it into Moodle or another LMS, great for language learning.

cheers,
clark

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In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Art Lader -
Jeff Watkins says this works very well - http://www.persony.com/

-- Art
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Manish Verma -
Persony's pricing looked attractive to me. But while testing it on Windows XP, I got errors quite a few times I guess at the time of testing desktop sharing. The whiteboard area was too small for mathematics teaching.
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In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Kevin Audleman -
My school has been using Elluminate for about three months now and it is phenomenal. It has a great integrated set of tools really creates the feel of a classroom (our students tell our teachers "I'll see you in class on Monday" to refer to an Elluminate session).

The audio is all VOIP, with a maximum of 4 channels. This works great for lectures. With a telephone system you get people's dogs barking in the background, the noise of a taxi, coughing. With VOIP it is pure, clear audio. This does not work for small-team meetings of more than 4 people, however, as people can't stand to trade off the mic. They usually just use Skype.


Let me list some other pros and cons

Pros
  • Different ways to ask questions works for introverts/extroverts: live chat, direct messaging, or emoticons
  • The application sharing works great for things where the screen doesn't have to re-draw fast. For example, if a teacher is talking Accounting, he will bring up an Excel spreadsheet and ask the students for balance sheet items. They will type them in to the direct message box.
  • In my research I found it to be the most cross-platform compatible system. It is 100% Java based.
Cons
  • Not cheap
  • The screen redraw for application sharing is very slow. Way slower than Go2Meeting or WebEx. I don't have any idea why.
Kevin Audleman
Director of Distance Learning
Bainbridge Graduate Institute
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In reply to Kevin Audleman

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Clark Moodler -
Also mentioned in another thread:
elluminate now offers free "vRoom" for up to 3 participants - works just like the full-fledged version except with no recording option...

http://www.elluminate.com/vroom/



clark
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In reply to Clark Moodler

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Rajesh Dharmalingam -
Hi,

Dimdim Moodle Integration pack is available at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=176809
Dimdim is added as an activity within moodle and Dimdim Web meeting can directly be invoked from the Moodle itself. Please tell me if you face any problems/issues at rajesh(@)dimdim.com.

Regards,
-Rajesh
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In reply to Clark Moodler

Another 3 for free from Adobe

by Manish Verma -
Another 3 for free - this time from Adobe with a new name Brio. Web conferencing sure is moving in the direction of becoming a commodity.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by John Wabel -
Go to demo.quopax.com

"Glance" does not work in the demo because it requires a download from their site so the demo does not have desktop sharing, co-browsing and application sharing but the standard product does. It comes with the Q-room but just not in the live demo.

Their are currently two audio set ups to use right now. The flash audio that comes with the video conferencing but a better more educationally usable product, Cloudspeak needs to be downloaded to be used. It has 7 breakout rooms that match the 7 whiteboards so small groups can work independently.

The Marker is for use with Glance or other screen sharing product or for use in front of a live Classroom on a LCD projection on a screen.

All the tools are in every Moodle room that comes up its all integrated. One login into Moodle and you are recognized as student , teacher or Admin and different tools work differently depending who you are.

Soon there will be an additional audio and video environment to try out that uses Asterisk as the platform so getting through some tough firewalls will no longer be a problem.

Have fun messing around

Jwabel
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In reply to Todd Thornton

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Jagdeep Singh Pannu -
Although I have been posting around in Moodle forums for some time now but here is a full disclosure if anyone does not know: I work for WiZiQ and am here both to inform everyone of our facilities for Moodle users and to learn more from everyone here about technology in education, future direction of education, and a host of other interesting topics in these excellent forums.

Ok, now on to the main subject. I had written a pretty long post about a "best" conferencing system, but decided to post that on our blog. I have explained why I did that in the post: Best Conferencing System for Moodle?

With regards to everyone,
Jagdeep Singh Pannu
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In reply to Jagdeep Singh Pannu

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Jagdeep Singh Pannu -
WiZiQ's free Live Class modules for Moodle are now available. Moodle users can start an “activity” from within Moodle to schedule, and activate a “block” to launch sessions in WiZiQ’s virtual classroom. Detailed instructions for installation are available here:

On WiZiQ

With video tutorials: http://www.wiziq.com/downloads/moodle

On Moodle:

Activity Module: http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&amp;rid=1113
Block Module: http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1114
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In reply to Jagdeep Singh Pannu

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Frances Bell -
Thanks for that disclosure Jagdeep. I think it is a really good idea to make disclosures when we have a connection with software/services we are evaluating or recommending. It might be a good idea to put this disclosure in your profile as it's much more accessible there. Moodle logs reveal the common user behaviour of clicking on a profile whilst reading a post from that person.
I see from your blog post that you are in marketing, so I am hoping that you can answer my question about WiziQ that I couldn't get from the web site. AFAIK, WiziQ is a commercial product that is currently 'free', and is not Open Source. What will be the price model for this service, and when will it be available? For example, will the model be similar to http://www.compued.com.au/conference/rates.htm ? for discovere , or more complex price structures like Elluminate http://www.elluminate.com/buy_now.jsp ?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Frances Bell

Re: Best Conferencing Software to use with Moodle

by Jagdeep Singh Pannu -
Hi Frances,

Thanks for your suggestion. I just updated my profile smile.

The features/services you see on WiZiQ so far--we call them basic features--are always going to be free e.g. live sessions with audio/ video, for one student or a group of students, recordings of these sessions, PowerPoint and other content sharing features etc. In fact we will be adding more such features for free on the site. Then at a later stage there will be a set of advanced features for WiZiQ power users for which we will charge a monthly subscription fee.
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