I was just asked by a colleague to suggest some tools for online discussions and/or live chats. She, like me, is beginning to explore hybrid learning and looking for tools to support out-of-class interactions.

Here’s the list I put together.  Please share your suggestions/opinions/reviews in the comments.

Moodle (LMS) based tools:

Google Apps based tools:

Other/3rd Party Tools

  • TodaysMeet (http://todaysmeet.com/): A free 3rd party tool; you can embed simple chat into a website with automatic expiration dates; great for feedback and easy to use.
  • Tricider (https://tricider.com): Similar to Google Moderator; collect ideas vote for the best ones
  • PollEverywhere (http://www.polleverywhere.com/): a tool for “polling” an audience; they can respond via website or text message.
  • VoiceThread (http://voicethread.com/): asynchronous group chat around media artifacts and presentations, some very interesting applications
  • Mural.ly (http://beta.mural.ly/): white board and chat space for brainstorming and project design