yackpack

yackpack

http://www.yackpack.com/

The power of the human voice in a cheap easy to use internet based format.
According to yackpack it provides:

. Instant, effortless communication.
Private groups.
Superb sound quality .
No ads or spam

At http://www.yackpack.com/education.html you will find a complete page on Educational uses for yackpack. I first heard about it at the 2007 NISOD Conference in Austin. It seems quite a few Community Colleges are using it as a communicaton tool.

Yackpack seems to add a dimension missing from a majority of online asynchronous communications. It allows voice in a secure scenario. You can use it to discuss topics, answer questions, give assignments and presentations, and other audio uses. It can be archived for later use, it can include a group or a single individual, and you control who and when. It can even be used to collaborate with other classes. It is safe from outsiders and that is very important these days.

This is a free tool that allows you to interact with your students, administrators, parents, advisors, peers, and classes around the world.

When I say free - it is free for now. They do expect it to cost about $2 a month at some point but till then enjoy.

My yackpack address is Dr. Bill Burkett.

Google Docs

Google Docs
http://docs.google.com or http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

According to Google "Create and share your projects online and access them from anywhere"

Google Docs can be used as a repository for your documents, large files, presentations, and graphics that you need to make available to a group of individuals.

You can determine who can access them or make them available to the public at large. Google Docs allows you to involve multiple individuals in the editing, composition, or reading of documents.

Great for groups that need to work on a document and have access at various times. This keeps one document that is common to all - do away with versions and trying to figure out who has which version.

Many Word type features are available such as comment, spell checker, strikeout, and bookmark. It also reads PDF, Word, RTF, and HTML versions of documents.

It's easy to use, it's available on any computer connected to the internet, and it's free.

Introduction to ET4Educators

Welcome to ET4Educators. A blog where you will find new, exciting, and cheap Emerging Technologies. Each week different Emerging Technologies will be spot-lighted. The weekly blog will contain the ET internet address, reviews of the ET, ideas for use of the ET in educational settings, and links as available.

My name is Bill Burkett and I am a Faculty Chair for the Undergrad IT Department at Capella University. Joe Johnson, Core Faculty, Capella Univeristy, will be joining me as co-editor of ET4Educators. Joe loves working with audio and video equipment and introduces elements of this into his courses. So with that in mind - Joe will be handling this portion of the ET and I will be looking at software and iternet solutions. Join us in this exciting look into Emerging Technologies. Better yet jump in - give us your two cents worth - agree / disagree / add to the knowledge base.

Be sure you join the Association of Virtual Worlds at http://www.associationofvirtualworlds.com/index.htm and obtain the free 'The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds' at http://www.associationofvirtualworlds.com/publishing.htm


See the Index at the top of the page for planned reviews.

If you have a favorite ET you would like to include, review, or ask about. This is the place to join in. Leave your comments and lets make this a usable academic blog.



Thanks,



Bill Burkett, Faculty Chair, IT/SoUS

Capella University