Heather Wik ETEC 565

I decided I needed a boost of confidence, so I chose to look at synchronous communication tools today.  I haven’t been chatting long, but have used several synchronous tools, including options in Moodle, MSN, Skype, Vista, Facebook, and iChat.  For a group project, this week I was introduced to Elluminate that worked well, but I found it difficult trying to follow the audio chat, read the written chat, and watch the whiteboard for participant contributions.  Multi-tasking required!  Last night the same group of us met using Web Ex (my first time using this) for a project in ETEC 510.  It seemed to be a better option for our group, but required that one person control the screen and do the typing.  I liked that we could all talk at the same time, whereas in Elluminate we had to click on the “chat” button to turn it on and off each time we wanted to speak.  I’m up and running in Pronto now, so another new program to investigate.  I’m learning that many programs provide similar services, and once you know what it’s capable of, it’s not too difficult to figure out how to use them.  Some have better affordances than other, and I’m withholding judgment as to my favourites until I’ve played a little bit more!