Video meetings: talking face to face online
In Week 3 we met collaboration and communication tools. One kind is for direct communication: video calls and video conferences over the internet. People use them to exchange ideas and data, and to build projects together, and they can see and hear each other face to face. A video meeting service usually offers four features: group video calls, screen sharing, chat, and live teamwork on a shared project. Compare this with e-mail from Week 7. E-mail is indirect, because the answer comes later. A video meeting is direct, because the answer comes at the same moment. To use a meeting service you need an account with its provider, as Week 8 explained. In Darslab we learn the ideas on paper. A real video meeting is held only with a teacher, and nobody records or takes photos of the people in it.
| Feature | What it lets you do |
|---|---|
| Group video call | see and hear several people at once |
| Screen sharing | show your work to everyone |
| Chat | write short messages to everyone |
| Live teamwork | build a project together at the same time |
| Situation | Better tool |
|---|---|
| you need an answer in five minutes | video meeting (direct) |
| you send a file and nobody is free now | e-mail (indirect) |
| a group wants to plan a project together | video meeting (direct) |
Draw a row of four boxes like four video tiles. Write a name in each, using invented names. Under the row write the four features of a meeting in your own words. Then say, in one sentence, why a video meeting is direct and e-mail is not.