[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]

[school-discuss] Re: [IIEP] reply to Bonnie and Anil re: VoIP-LCMS integration



Dear Tony and all,

Tony Bailetti kirjoitti 17.10.2005 kello 18:47:

There is the theory and then there is the practice.  In theory, yes
you
should be able to link VoIP with Moodle or other open source LCMS.
However,
in practice, this integration has not yet been deployed
successfully by
suppliers of open source LCMS.


Actually there are many examples of using VoIP inside Free Open Source LCMS. It's just a matter what do you mean with "integration".

For instance in Moodle, in each users' information (kind of business
card) there is a field for Skype ID. If you add your Skype IN in here
it becomes and active link which by clicking opens Skype and makes
the call to the person.


There are many interesting open source telephony projects on the
go, but
they are all at the alpha or beta stages.


At the moment better (open) alternatives for Skype are:

http://www.gizmoproject.com/

and Google Talk:

http://www.google.com/talk/

They are not FLOSS but much more open than Skype.

Openwengo looks very promising Free/Libre/Open Source VoIP software:

http://www.openwengo.com/


As to the proprietary folks. Wimba, WebCT and Blackboard are all
proprietary
suppliers of educational software. Wimba does have tight partnership
agreements with both WebCT and Blackboard.  Thus, Wimba-WebCT and
Wimba-Blackboard may be in a better position to integrate voice and
LCMS in
the short run.


I am quite surprised if Wimba is not willing to sell their software for an institution using FLOSS LMS. It just seems to be that institutions using FLOSS LCMS are not willing to pay for it and rather try to use some FLOSS synchronous conferencing software with the FLOSS LCMS.

For instance integration of Wimba to Moodle, the same way as it is
done according to their web site for the WebCT/Blacboard (http://
www.horizonwimba.com/products/integration.php) is a job of 8 hours
for a professional software developer who already know Moodle. Same
thing with other FLOSS LCMS.

Best regards,

    - Teemu

-----------------------------------------------
Teemu Leinonen
http://www.uiah.fi/~tleinone/
+358 50 351 6796
Media Lab
http://mlab.uiah.fi
University of Art and Design Helsinki
-----------------------------------------------