I have now made the transition to Groove v3. I think the program is great. Now, the challenge is to learn how to use the new program features.
This morning, I was perusing the Groove Forums and decided to read comments on the "What do you think of Groove" discussion page. As usual, some people liked Groove, some did not. One comment caught my eye. Someone was describing how he(she) has used "Skype" in combination with Groove in order to overcome the weak voice chat feature in Groove. I was excited to find someone else who is willing to "blend" technologies in order to achieve a desired outcome.
Following is the reply that I posted to the person's forum comments. Hopefully, my reply might start a dialog.
Rick's Reply to Groove Forum Comments:
You made a great observation (i.e., Groove + Skype provides a very workable combination for collaboration). Unfortunately, in past versions of Groove the voice chat feature was not good. As a work-a-round, I tried using Skype to provide the voice feature. The result was quite good.
With the latest version of Skype, up to five Skype users can join a conference call. This combination of technologies has worked very well. Essentially, with the "Groove + Skype" combination, you can do just about everything that you can do with services like WebEX and LiveMeeting. With this approach, cost savings are incredible and everything can be done over the Internet (i.e., there's no need to tie up a telephone line).
I'm an accounting professor at California State University, San Bernardino. I teach online courses. My research for the past couple of years has focused on "blending" technologies in order to deliver online courses.
In my course design, I combine Groove with a course management system (CMS). The CMS provides a website/portal. I use Groove to create study groups. Rather than limiting the course design to one platform (e.g., CMS), I use multiple platforms and connect them through hyperlinks. In most cases, the transition from one platform to another is seamless.
This coming fall quarter 2004, I am taking the instructional design model another step forward. We are going add another platform to the model that will enable Groove v3 to become a web-based program. The instructional design model will now look like this:
CMS + Groove v3 + "Blended Groove" (PopG) + Skype + Special-purpose programs
"Stepping outside the box" by mixing-n-matching technologies can result in some very exciting technologies. Every program has its stengths and weaknesses. Accept them and add something else to the "mix" that solves a problem.
Best wishes,
Rick Lillie (rlillie@csusb.edu)
9:38:13 AM 
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