Communication+Tools

=Communication Tools=


 * Skype**:

====Skype is an amazing communication tool. It's as easy as clicking on the person's name on your list of contacts, and then pushing the green "call" button. We have recently started using it to talk with our family members who live far away. We send text messages back and forth to determine a time when we will use skype. For example, we wanted to talk to (and see) our two year old grandson, so they set up their computer for skype and we brought up our skype and waited for the call. When we heard the phone call come in and saw the little phone icon on the skype window, we answered it, pushed video, and all sat on the couch. Little Samuel was wonder-struck when he saw Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Benny and Aunt Hannah in the computer! He ran to get his favorite books to show us. When I asked him, "Where are your animals for your farm?" he smiled and ran to get them out of his room. It felt like we were all in the same room. I was able to ask my daughter in law if I could see how big her tummy is getting (she is expecting in March.) We also used it this past Sunday evening to communicate with my son and his wife who live in Minnesota. He is in medical school and very busy, so we had a 10 minute skype session. Luke and Melanie sat on their couch and we sat on ours. Luke was eating a bunch of snacks and cracking jokes, making his siblings laugh like crazy, so it was just as it was when he lived at home. I can't say enough about this great tool. Actually, my parents were also able to talk to and see their great-grandson this way, when they visited us, and they were thrilled by it! If my students are able to use Skype from home, it would be very helpful for using with group projects.====


 * Team Viewer**:

====Team Viewer is a software program that established connections between two computers. Almost instantaneously, even people half way across the world are able to remotely control their partner's PC as if they were sitting right in front of it. This is a very helpful and innovative tool for meetings, and it would enhance the way students could work together to get a group project done well. All members of the group would be able to work together without the hassle of trying to be physically in the same room. I was not able to try this, as I was not in class the day we tried out Team Viewer.==== = =