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eLearning Knowledge Platform for Partners

Topic outline

  • In these times keeping communication going with your project partners is especially important. Cancelled meetings or workshops can be replaced by online sessions. There are tools that you can use for that. You might already be familiar with distance communication options and maybe some or your colleagues or project partners already make use of the options (or similar) mentioned below. In the below sections you can find information on distance communication tools (free and licensed) and an item on internet connection.

    • Free tools

      Skype

      Most of us are familiar with Skype. Skype is a great free tool for distance communication. It supports chat, voice and video calls, conference calls, sharing of screen and sending documents. You can join through the Skype Desktop tool, from the mobile phone app or through a browser. The performance in terms of connection can be a bit less than other tools however.

      Google Hangouts

      Google Hangouts is also often used. It offers similar features as Skype. It integrates well with the Google applications and GMail. A description of features can be found here.

      Zoom

      Another option is the free version of Zoom. Zoom has an intuitive interface and good performance. With the free version of Zoom you have unlimited sessions with one person and max. 40 minutes with up to 100 participants. Zoom, however, has serious issues with security and privacy and is therefore not recommended as corporate solution.


      Jitsi

      If you’re looking for a free and 100% Open Source solution Jitsi is a great tool. On your computer it runs from the browser. For the mobile phone there’s an app. It allows video conferencing, chat and screen sharing. It's much safer than Zoom. Read here about the safety of Jitsi. It's very democratic: you can mute all users, but they can only unmute themselves. It has raise hand functionality and you can start a YouTube video in a Jitsi session to watch simultaneously with all viewers. You can record Zoom sessions and they are saved directly into Dropbox.

    • Licensed tools

      Many organisations use Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business. There are however other tools available. Find here two options (similar to each other):  

      • Go to meeting – €14,33 per month (invoiced per year)
      • Zoom – PRO version € 14, - per month or € 140,- for a year. Please note the security and privacy issues mentioned above.

      You might have good experience with other tools for distance communication, please let us know about those. Also your institution might have good options available that you can use. Feel free to share your experiences with us.

      If small items (e.g. such as the above mentioned platforms or other options, speaker, microphone) to support your distance communication are beneficial for your project work and this is not supported through your organization, those are eligible costs under your DUPC project and can be invoiced (including receipts) to IHE Delft as part of the normal invoicing procedure. 

    • Online collaboration tools

      Google Docs
      With Google Docs you can create and edit web-based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Access them through any device and work on them online with your team.

      Mural
      Do you miss workshop sessions with colourful sticky notes on the wall? Then try Mural. Mural is a digital workspace for visual collaboration.

    • Internet connection

      When working from home, you might not have a stable internet connection and might need data bundles. Sometimes the internet of different providers is needed, because they are all intermittent.

      When your authorities advise social distancing, we advise not to invest in modems to connect multiple participants in the same room, but instead choose for individual modems (USB dongles) or use tethering from your mobile phone.

      If you experience or have experienced challenges with regards to distance communication please let us know so we can see if the programme can address these challenges.

    • Good practice

      If you're organising an online session with partners in a project or with your students, there's more to take care of than only the choice of the tool.