Collaborative Spaces

I took a quick look at both ooVoo and Google Hangouts and didn't see what I would use them for, although perhaps if I was teaching online the video call/conference thing might be useful. I could certainly see using these in a social setting to chat with friends or relatives, especially far flung ones. I could see them possibly being useful for conferences or meetings as well.

I spent more time looking at VoiceThread. I looked at the History of Women in Art example and found it an interesting way to hold a discussion. I liked the ability to "draw" on the image while commenting, and I liked the option of either talking or writing one's response. I could see this being great for online courses, but maybe even for a traditional classroom based course. I've tried using discussion forum in Angel with my students, but they don't seem to engage much with each other. Of course, in this format they didn't either, for that matter. But to have the students comment and then listen to/read all the comments would be a cool assignment. It would seem to work particularly well for analyzing a visual source such as the paintings in the example. When I went on the VoiceThread site, I liked that it could be used with your campus course management system. But it sounded like the campus would have to have a license, and so far as I know Fredonia does not. But I'd be interested in testing this if we had access.