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Adobe Connect web meeting app - available for free for up to three participants (including host - only one who needs to sign up). Participants simply go to the host's meeting room url (which is easy to remember) and can use webcams/audio, share screen/windows, type messages and meeting notes, use the whiteboard, exchange files.

Looks very good - liked the way it went straight to gmail to find contacts - lets try it more widely.

We recommended this to the folks running a Clinical Dermatology course for holding their virtual tutorials and it seemed to work pretty well. It does require quite an up to date version of the Flash player which can be a problem...i.e. anyone attempting to use a student service machine or some staff with 'managed' computers won't be able to use it. I believe Electronic Engineering have forked out for the "pro" version...or at least they have in the past. As usual with Adobe stuff,,,it looks slick! DimDim is another web-conferencing thingy that seems to get a lot of press...haven't used it myself. Elluminate is another one that I've seen used at several meetings I've been to recently.

Google have just released some new (but experimental) functionality for calendars. I'm not convinced that I would actually find most of them useful...apart, perhaps from the next meeting or who's free functionality. Apparently there's now an experimental (again) API for building one's own calendaring apps.

Who is is free is useful. The todo list tool is much better now

Doodle helps scheduling meetings and other appointments. Doodle is simple, quick, free and requires no registration. Simply set up a poll, send a link to all participants, watch progress online, and finally choose the most suitable date.

Very useful - much clearer and simpler than timebridge which I have used before- timebridge does have more sophistication and enables people to book appointments with you via google calendar - tried it,nobody did - story of my life

Simple and easy free flashcard and quiz creater

Templates for email newsletters

1910 report on medical education - lectures etc in America

Very good advice - I did a photoreading course some time ago and the activation stage was crucial - ie when you put the book away and revise what you have learnt from it. The other thing that was not mentioned here which I think is interesting is to do a mindmap or list of what you already know before you read something - I don't know how students here would find it - at Londonmet they found it very difficult - and we really surprised at how much they did know - and how it made reading easier.

Maybe interesting to see the results of this study, when it comes out. Msot of it makes intuitive sense (but then I am usually suspicious when that happens ...) I quite liked this exercise: "students are asked to trace the spread of a claim from an academic journal to less prestigious forms of media, like magazines and newspapers, in order to see how arguments are diluted. In another, students are asked to pursue the answer to a research question using only blogs, and to create a map showing how they know if certain information is trustworthy or not."

I found this a while ago. It's interesting but I don't actually think it's that good a report, it doesn't compare things consistently. It does have a nice section on guidelines for running a session in a virtual classroom. We should probably write our own ESD 'virtual classroom' review and this report would provide a good starting point for putting together some criteria to review against.

A review of 'virtual classroom' software done by a company called Kineo.

Oh, just thought, we could probably use Jane Hart's tool list to put together the list of tools to review.

Quick commentary piece on working-class students being disadvantaged at universities that made me think of the Transitions project. Also of interest to the Graduate Attributes project: Goldsmiths' mission statement. It offers "a transformative experience, generating knowledge and stimulating self-discovery through creative, radical and intellectually rigorous thinking and practice."

Immediately made me think about someone in a College department, which will remain nameless, who proudly proclaims that they fail a large number of students...like it's some kind of badge of honour! This article would appear to hit the nail on the head but unfortunately it's a problem that's doesn't have a "simple" solution like lowering entrance standards or handing out more Oxbridge scholarships.

Another use for the text messaging services we are considering in ESD?

I should really make a list of "requirements" to take to the meeting to find out whether the service being presented would indeed allow all this stuff. I was at a training course last Friday on audience voting systems and we had a go at using a thing called PollEverywhere which allows voting by text, web or twitter. David, I think you've mentioned PollEverywhere before? It is rather good. You can get a free Higher Ed account for up to 32 participants...doesn't do any reporting, or there's a variety of paid plans which give access to more sophisticated features. It's quite neat. http://www.polleverywhere.com/