Virtual Classrooms

 

Also called Web Conferencing, these tools provide an interface for synchronous, over-the-web meetings and classes.  They typically include a whiteboard for presentation and data sharing with interactive graphic tools.  They may also include video sharing, audio tools, a chat window for instant messaging among participants and polling and feedback tools. This is not a comprehensive list.  A Google search for Web Conferencing will turn up many more.  I have tried to identify the major players by the highlights.

 

1.       3Dsolve 3D4M (3Dsolve Inc.) http://www.3dsolve.com/3d4m.html a software environment for collaborative simulation-based training

2.       Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional (Formerly Macromedia Breeze Meeting) http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnect/  Purely Flash based - no other plug-ins required.  Adobe purchased Macromedia in 2005.

3.       Akiva WebMeeting (Akiva Corporation) http://www.webboard.com/products/webmeeting/prodinfo/index.cfm

4.       Arel Spotlight Application Suite and Integrated Conferencing Platform (ICP) (Arel Communications and Software, Ltd.) http://www.arelcom.com/conferencing.html  Concentrates its marketing effort on its video offerings more than its web conferencing product.

5.       AT&T Connect (AT&T) http://www.interwise.com In Nov. 2007 AT&T purchased Interwise.

6.       Aunwesha LearnITy Virtual Classroom (Aunwesha Knowledge Technologies Private Limited) http://www.aunwesha.com A suite of tools. Based in India.

7.       Call Fusion CF WebConference (Call Fusion) http://www.call-fusion.com Purchased by ConferTel http://www.confertel.net/ in November 2007.

8.       Centra7 (Centra) http://www.centra.com Centra is now owned by Saba.

9.       Cisco Unified MeetingPlace (Cisco Systems, Inc.) http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/index.html

10.   Citrix GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar (Citrix) https://www.gotomeeting.com/s/gg/aw/gotomeeting

11.   Communicast - now Vcall Web Conferencing (see below)

12.   Communiqué Conferencing (Communiqué Conferencing, Inc.) http://www.communiqueconferencing.com/web-conferencing.asp

13.   ConferTel i-Present Pro (ConferTel) http://www.confertel.net/ Offer several different versions of their web conferencing capability.  Purchased Call-Fusion in Nov., 2007.

14.   Data Connection Meeting Server (Data Connection Ltd.) http://www.meetingserver.com/ 

15.   Desire2Learn LiveRoom (Desire2Learn, Inc.) http://www.desire2learn.com.

16.   Dialcom Unified Collaboration (Dialcom Networks) http://www.dialcom.com Based in Europe, they recently entered the North American Market, their focus is on corporate web conferencing rather than classroom.

17.   Dimdim Web Conferencing (Dimdim, Inc.) http://www.dimdim.com.  Open source and free up to a point.

18.   Distance Learning ScribeStudio (Distance Learning, Inc) http://www.scribestudio.com/  Includes learning management, content authoring, etc.

19.   Documentum eRoom (Documentum) http://www.documentum.com/products/glossary/eroom.htm

20.   eBLVD (eBLVD) www.eblvd.com

21.   e-Learning Consulting Learning Management System (e-Learning Consulting) http://www.e-learningconsulting.com/ Low cost, e-learning only

22.   Elluminate Live! http://www.elluminate.com  – based in Calgary, Canada.  They also provide software called Elluminate Plan and Elluminate Publish for planning live sessions and making recorded sessions available.

23.   ePath Learning LIVESM (ePath Learning) http://www.epathlearning.com

24.   Facilitate.com 8.5 (Facilitate.com) http://www.facilitate.com

25.   Farstone Virtual Class (Farstone Technology, Inc.) http://www.farstone.com/

26.   Foroso Meeting Center/Training Center (Foroso Communications GmbH) http://www.foroso.com

27.   G-Cube Solutions Virtual Class Room (G-Cube Solutions) http://www.gc-solutions.net Based in India.

28.   Glance (Glance Networks) http://www.glance.net/

29.   Global Crossing Ready-Access Web Meeting Service (Global Crossing) http://www.globalcrossing.com/enterprise/collaboration/collaboration_ready_access_webmeeting_over.aspx

30.   HP Virtual Rooms (HP) http://education.hp.com/hpvr/ Also offer HP Halo Video Conferencing.

31.   Hyperwave eConferencing Suite (Hyperwave AG) http://www.hyperwave.com/e/products/ecs.html

32.   IBM Lotus Virtual Classroom and SameTime Unyte (IBM) http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/lotus/offering7.nsf/wdocs/homepage and http://www.unyte.net IBM purchased WebDialogs in Aug. 2007 and has integrated it into the product called Lotus SameTime Unyte.

33.   Inet Conference Room Discovere Conference Room (Inet Conference Room) http://www.inetconferenceroom.com/rooms.nsf/home_contact 

34.   Infinite Conferencing Desktop Sharing WebInterpoint (Infinite Conferencing) http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/web-conferencing-solution.asp

35.   Informa Systems InformaStream (Informa Systems) http://www.informasystems.com/.  A complete suite including an LMS, authoring software and a live, online classroom.

36.   Intellor eXtend: Web and eXtend: Live (Intellor Group) http://www.intellor.com

37.   InterCall Conference Place (InterCall, a subsidiary of West Corporation) http://www.intercall.com They now own Raindance.

38.   JDH Web-4M (JDH Technologies) http://www.jdhtech.com/ 

39.   KMX Live (Knowledge Management Solutions Inc. (KMSI)) http://www.kmsi.us/kmx_live.htm - part of KMx platform

40.   Krawler Virtual Classroom (Krawler Networks) http://www.krawlerlms.com.  Also offer an LMS, an LCMS and an educational customer relationship management system (CRM).  Based in India.

41.   Learn.com WebRoom (Learn.com) http://www.learn.com

42.   Linden Research Second Life (Linden Research, Inc.) http://secondlife.com  A complete 3D learning platform.

43.   Linktivity Inter-Tel Web Conferencing (Linktivity division of Inter-Tel, Inc.) http://www.linktivity.com/ 

44.   MeetingOne Click&Share Web Conferencing (MeetingOne) http://www.meetingone.com

45.   MicroPower Presence (Micropower) http://www.micropowerpresence.com.br Based in Brazil.

46.   Microsoft Live Meeting (Microsoft) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010909711033.aspx Formerly PlaceWare.

47.   Microsoft NetMeeting (Microsoft) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/ - The original and most familiar.  It is basic and free but it doesn’t seem to have much support from Microsoft any longer.

48.   Netbriefings (Netbriefings) http://www.netbriefings.com

49.   Netdive eAuditorium (Netdive) http://www.netdive.com/ 

50.   Netmarketingsolution.com Inc. GlobeMeeting (Netmarketingsolution.com Inc.) http://www.globemeeting.com.

51.   ON24 Webcast Center (ON24 Inc.) http://www.on24.com/webcasting_products.html  Uses Real Player.  As the name implies, it is designed more for corporate webcasting than for instruction.

52.   OneTouch Live Classroom (OneTouch) http://www.onetouch.com

53.   Open Text LiveLink Meeting Zone (Open Text Corporation) http://www.opentext.com May no longer be a current product.

54.   Oridus SpaceCruiser Web Conferencing and iM (Oridus Inc.) http://www.oridus.com/ 

55.   iLinc (iLinc Corporation) http://www.ilinc.com They provide several interfaces designed for specific purposes – MeetingLinc, LearnLinc and ConferenceLinc and SupportLinc.

56.   Photon SPARK (Photon Infotech Private Limited, India) http://www.photoninfotech.com

57.   Pixion PictureTalk (Pixion) http://www.pixion.com/ 

58.   Radvision Click To Meet (Radvision) http://www.radvision.com/EnterpriseSolutions/VideoconferencingProducts/ClickToMeet/

59.   Raindance Meeting Edition and Raindance Seminar Edition (Raindance) http://www.raindance.com/. Now owned by InterCall.

60.   RWD u360 Conference (RWD Technologies) http://www.rwd.com/products/learningmanagementtechnology/u360conferencing/  Part of a suite of products.

61.   Saba Centra7 (Centra) http://www.centra.com Centra is now owned by Saba.

62.   SimplyDigi DigiCast (SimplyDigi.com, Inc.) http://www.simplydigi.com

63.   SkillSoft® Dialogue (Skillsoft) http://www.skillsoft.com/products/custom_content/default.asp

64.   Smile Tiger (SmileTiger Software Corporation) http://www.smiletiger.com/ 

65.   Speechi Share (Speechi US) http://www.speechi.net/us/  

66.   Streamlogics MyTalkback EVENT/SHARE (Streamlogics) http://www.streamlogics.com

67.   SumTotal TotalVCS (SumTotal Systems) http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/products/stvcs.html

68.   TeraLearn Virtual Rooms and Registration Solution (VCR) (TeraLearn.com Inc.) http://www.teralearn.com/2004/index.html Partners with HP.  Adds registration features.

69.   TFactor WebView (TFactor, Inc.) http://www.tfactor.com

70.   Time4You IBT Live Collaboration (Time4You GmbH) http://www.time4you.de  

71.   Vcall Web Conferencing (formerly Communicast) (Vcall Inc.) http://www.vcall.com

72.   Viack VIA3 (Viack Corporation) http://www.viack.com/ 

73.   Web Conferencing Central (Web Conferencing Central) http://www.web-conferencing-central.com/

74.   WEBCONFERENCE.COM™ (Webconference.com) http://www.webconference.com

75.   WebDialogs Meeting Central (WebDialogs) http://www.unyte.net Purchased by IBM in August, 2007.

76.   WebMeet Pro (WebMeetPro) https://www.webmeetpro.com

77.   WebEx Training Center (WebEx) http://www.webex.com.  They partner with GeoLearning to offer LMS/LCMS capability.  Cisco purchased Webex in March 2007.

78.   WebTrain Communicator (WebTrain Communications) http://www.webtrain.com/ Vancouver.

79.   Wimba Classroom (Wimba)  http://www.wimba.com/  Focuses on the formal education market.  Also offers an authoring tool called Wimba Create.  Merged with HorizonLive in 2004 and was known as Horizon Wimba for a short time. Purchased Silicon Chalk in 2005.

80.   Winnov CBOX and Videum Conference Pro XP (Winnov USA) http://www.winnov.com.  Hardware solutions.

81.   WiZiQ Virtual Classroom (WiZiQ) http://www.wiziq.com Basic version is free.

82.   XStream sofTV.net (softTV.net a division of XStream Software Inc.) http://www.softv.net  Streaming technology for audio, video and PowerPoint.

83.   Yugma (Yugma, Inc.) https://www.yugma.com Basic service is free.

 

Notes:

Interwise ECP Connect (Interwise) http://www.interwise.com/ In Nov. 2007, Interwise was purchased by AT&T and the tool became AT&T Connect.

 

There are many companies that offer web conferencing as a service using one of the tools listed above.  For example Allen Communication uses LearnLinc, Brainshark uses Microsoft Live Meeting, and some use their own in-house tools but offer them only as a service.

 

Links to more virtual classrooms

• http://www.learningcenter.unisg.ch/learningcenter/lcweb2.nsf/0/3631cdab2583fb10c1256e5c0039ae6a?OpenDocument
• http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/realtime.htm#general