Skype not functioning.
Submitted by Talking_Mule on Mon, 2008-05-05 18:02.
Jeff,
I am learning to hate Skype with a cold, unyielding fury. It won't work with my microphone, and there are things happening in my machine, between MS XP updates, the Sound Volume 32 program, and the USB ports over which I have no control, let alone a clue what is happening. Echo123 has been busy 2/3 of the time, and when I do get through, it doesn't recognize me. I've been in registry hell the last 2 hours.
What exactly were you intending to use this (rant deleted) piece of ... software for, instructionally speaking?
Just barely Fran
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Skype Progress
From the sound of your skype voicemail Fran, it sounds like you overcame the fury to at least get things working. As far as instructional purposes, for starters having a real time group text chat will hopefully provide more timely support for those 'challenging times'.
As far as EFL instructional value, I think there's something to be said for being able to speak with anyone on the planet (who has skype and the net). Audio quality is remarkably good and you can have up to 20 people in a conversation. Just as with learning technology, progress is more likely in learning language when there's an authentic reason to want to use the L2. Connecting to other learners via skype can help provide that motivation.
A few examples and reflections related to using skype in an instructional setting:
http://www.webcastacademy.net/Spacecast_3
http://webheadsinaction.org/node/302
http://insights-into-tefl.blogspot.com/2007/02/using-skype-with-students...
http://worldia.net/
Sorry, had to extinguish my hair ...
Hmm. I can sort of appreciate this ... having someone to talk to overseas generates an interest to learn to communicate?
Sorry about the negative attitude. I think one of the things that has been making me a bit jumpy is that my machine has gotten rather unstable with all the new programs. I have little confidence in Windows, tend to religiously run anti-virus and registry repair programs, but my sense is that software makers feel free to muck about with the registry settings in my computer to make sure that their software will run right, and if they mess it up for everyone else's programs, or my sanity, that's no skin off their nose.
Comcast provides my phone & broadband service, and they have abruptly ended support for people who use peer-to-peer services, like BitTorrent. Does Skype do this? If so, I may be risking my broadband and phone line, because they are direct competitors. Sigh. What's a 'normal' user to do?
By the way, my sense is that Moodle will be a lot more useful to me, based on reading and watching the screencasts. Right now, I'm getting an error message when I try to create a course, but Sharon is currently logged in to 537. I suspect she is also logged into Moodle as Guest. Does Moodle let multiple users work with the same login?
Suspicions
Of the programs we've installed, I think the only ones that might cause a system slowdown is Firefox (if you use too many add-ons) and skype (but it should be too heavy unless you're in a conference call with several others). I've had a Comcast connection for my entire skype history and have never had significant problems, but Comcast is indeed suspected of interfering with p2p traffic and skype , but the worst case scenario should be that your skype calls get dropped. It should not affect your home phone service.
Not sure why you were getting error messages with Moodle, unless you were logged in as a guest. Not only can multiple users log in at the same time, but it also seems possible for multiple users to log in with the same ID (in this case, efl537). If logging in as 'efl537' isn't working, go ahead and create your own ID and I will provide you with the necessary permissions to create a course.
Wishing you a 'cool hair' Wednesday
:)
JL