MS Lync for education

MS Lync is now available to all Victorian Education Department staff and should replace MS Communicator as a tool for communication. The following notes were taken from a session by Graeme Oswin of the Grampians Regional Office. MS Lync is a virtual meeting software that is being considered for general classroom us.

Pros

• Free to Victorian  Education Department staff
• Available to all staff
• Simple to use
• Powerful sharing and collaboration features
• Person to person or group conferences
• Scales  well – Video Conferencing equipment does not scale well.
• Integrated with MS Office
• Windows and Mac versions
• Distribute large files and attachments
• Conferences recordable
• Integrated with Polycom VC units

Video does not work well in online version with eg global connections.

Cons

• Requires computers to be online
• No direct student access
• Students  would need to use teacher login
• Less suited to large groups – best used for individuals with headset
• Does not support advanced camera actions such as pan and zoom

Updates:-

• New video call, share whiteboard, with annotation tools at the bottom.
• Can create groups in projects
• Set availability
• Can send email for meeting alerts

Have you used MS Lync for online meetings or for classroom use with students? If so, what do you have to share? Please leave any questions or experiences as a comment.