Just got off using Webex with my father-in-law in Thailand. Fantastic tool. We started off trying to use Skype and IM and email to send a file (a template for something that I want made in Thailand) and eventually gave up as it all seemed too hard. I convinced him to try out Webex's offer of a free trial with me and we were able to get the job done. It was a real eureka moment for me being able to text to chat (he's having trouble with his webcam) whilst also being able to share the documents that I needed him to see and review with me before he went off to the shops to get my new ... wait for it ... camera strap made up (don't ask). Being able to highlight a document was a real highlight (no pun intended) because it left me feeling *fairly sure* that we were both on the same page as it were when we were talking about what I wanted done.
At any rate I could see from using Webex how it would have real potential in the classroom - or in a more broadly distributed classroom / learning activity.
The only downside that I could see are the costs. US$59.00 a month, cancel any time isn't prohibitive but it's way out of reach of a teacher's classroom budget and it would be hard, if not impossible, to get the money from some other school budget line (Moodle is already provided to schools). Asking for Webex could see you being labelled as 'reinventing (or rebuying) the wheel'. However the tool works really well and it's an option. It would be great to see a full free academic version for schools. Much like wikispaces provides full free wiki's for educators that ask. Click here to see a video of how Webex works.
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