Video Conferencing Tools

This week I made a chart comparing different video conferencing tools. Take a look!

Site	Pros	Cons
Skype	Can connect with people all over the world safely and at your convenience.   Free sign up and free download.	Need the phone number of the person you are trying to connect with.
Adobe Connect Now	Reminds me of Google Docs- storage space, being able to share and edit files, work from anywhere, having private files, and having more than one person view a file at the same time.	Need to sign up for an account and purchase the software. You can do this exact same thing in Google.
Tiny Chat	You can have a personalized chat room and only have certain people chat in it.	When you first get on the home page you can tell it is very inappropriate for students You would need to make sure your personalized chat room link did not have any inappropriate ads or content in it. You do need to sign up for an account and while it is free, the teacher would probably have to sign everyone up to avoid exposing the students to bad ads.
Meeting Burner	The basic Meeting Burner subscription comes with a lot of options.  Options include: Screen sharing Mac and PC compatibility  chat during meetings,  online support audio conferencing by telephone, computer or Skype meeting scheduling  streaming video  email reminders   Many of these options are great for students to use in a classroom. Students can use the site to schedule homework and keep track of it as well.	You need to sign up for an account, but the account is free.  Other options cost money.
Go To Meeting	Seems like an easy way to video conference. Can use it on any device, tablet, and smartphone. Easy way to conference and schedule future conferences.  Webinars and conferences can be a great way for teachers to communicate, get training, bring people into the classroom, and learn.	Must purchase software but you get a 30 day free trial.  Some setting have larger capacities so large classrooms might not be able to all participate at once depending on the product being used.
Yugma	It is a free account as well as a free download.  Easy presentation tools as well as Skype integration, screen sharing, and file space to store files.  Saving and recording web meetings and webinars is a good way for teachers to share what the class is doing as well as sharing with students who were not present during that time.	You still have to pay per month or per year to use its service.  The pricing also depends on how many people would use it, so the more people use it, the more money it costs.
Webex	Free sign up, can purchase a premium account.  Has mobile apps to use.   All done though a cloud, says it is a secure network.   Also provides web meeting, webinars, and training.   There was a specific section for online learning and teaching.   This section showed how it was very interactive with students as well as having a library of recorded lectures, collaboration with peers, group training, tutoring, peer projects, etc. It seemed like it has a lot to offer in terms of online learning.	If the network or cloud is down, you cannot access your account.

I wanted to do a separate paragraph on Skype Education. Skype Education also has so much to offer. It is a positive, great and safe way to connect with other classrooms, communities, and professionals all around the world. Recently my third class Skyped with the head of the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls, Canada after completing a unit on butterflies. After the class tweeted about it, Skype Education actually tweeted us and asked the class to blog about it and share the blog with Skype Education. They seem very invested in offering great ways for classrooms to explore the world by video conferencing safely.

 Overall I found many positive sites that I liked. For the ones that require a subscription I would definitely do the 30 day trial before deciding on paying for them. My favorites included Skype, Meeting Burner, Go To Meeting, Yugma, and Webex. I found that these sites had the most to offer for teachers, classrooms,and even the whole school. I think that these sites are great ways for teachers and students to collaborate as well as whole schools to train teachers, communicate, and collaborate. We all can have very busy lives and I feel that these sites are a way to alleviate some of the stress that comes with the job of being a teacher. I think that many of these sites are great tools that I will definitely try to use in my own classroom.