The NTEN Affinity Groups are great sounding boards for folks looking for technology recommendations. Our NTEN Discuss Email Archive members recently investigated the tools and software packages that can aid in online web-conferencing and conversation.

Below is summary of responses from the NTEN Discuss Email Archive thread. If you want to get involved, sign-up today free of charge and view the posts and links in their full glory at http://groups.nten.org.

Comments & Suggestions:

• I've also been impressed with Arkadin's features: http://www.arkadin.com. Last time I shopped, they had a very flexible invoicing setup that helped with some of our cost allocation requirements. Read the full post.
• ReadyTalk handles regular voice conf. calls and webinar/chat interaction. If you can click on a PowerPoint file, you can run ReadyTalk. Read the full post.
• I have used ReadyTalk as well and am a big fan. Compared to WebEx, Go to Meeting, and Live Meeting, my experience is that it is easier both for meeting hosts and participants. It does not require participants to download and install an application to join the meeting. With WebEx it seemed like I would always have at least one participant who could not join and I had to spend five to 10 minutes troubleshooting pop up blockers and other issues with them while everyone else waited. ReadyTalk also allows Mac users to host meetings. It does not have all the bells and whistles of the fancier web conferencing tools, and its response time (the time it takes for participants' screens to update) is a little bit slower.

  Lastly, I tried Yugma and found it to be a little bit clunky -- it seemed to require a pretty large download for me to host a meeting (but it is free for small meetings). It might have improved since I tried it, though, as it had just launched. Read the full post.

• I would ask "How well does the instructional design fit the tool?" For example, while I like and use ReadyTalk, it is designed for broadcast, lecture, or one-to-many model. Chat questions can only go to the instructor, not the entire group. Many-to-many communication is not embedded in the chat design. And the phone lines can't handle small groups or dyads either. It also lacks interactive features like polls. If the meetings are designed for students to listen while the "teacher" fills them with knowledge, than the ReadyTalk design will work. If you want to facilitate discussion, you will need to use telephone moderation techniques and limit the groups to 12-15 which is the limit for a facilitated conference call. Read the full post.