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Running Head: COMMUNICATION TOOLS

EDIT 5370 Assignment 4

Synchronous Communication Tool: Microsoft Lync
Asynchronous Communication Tool: Edmodo
Ismail Dilber
Texas Tech University

COMMUNICATION TOOLS
Synchronous Communication Tool: Microsoft Lync
Microsoft Lync is an instant messaging client. It is intended to replace windows
messenger when it is first launched. The target is corporate environment. Microsoft Lync is also
being utilized for educational institution for communication and collaboration. Basic features
include instant messaging, voice and video conferencing. The main features of Lync allow teams
of people to see and simultaneously work on the same document. As Texas Tech student we
have the ability to download the software for free using the eraider account.

Finding and adding new contact is quite easy. Once you logged in using TTU email address you
can access anyone who is part of Texas Tech system. All you need to do is that type the name of
the person into the find contact search field. Either individually or as a group your contacts can
be invited to participate in an instant message session, conference call, a video call, sharing
desktop or programs, to send an email message, or any of them at the same time. Audio and
video conferences can be recorded and accessed at any time using the recording manager.

In addition to making audio and video calls, Microsoft Lync can be used to share many of the
functions such as your or other participants` screen/desktops, programs that are running at the
moment, power point presentation etc.

There is also a white board function that can be utilized as group collaboration. The polling
function allows the organizer to create a poll to get an instant feedback from the participants.
Files can be shared with the participants.
I can surely say that teachers can use Microsoft Lync to have office hours at a distance. The
features of the program allow you almost everything that you need to meet the students needs as
much as you can do in a regular face to face office hour. One of the good parts of Lync is that
you sign in with your student email. You don`t have to create a new account which is a big thing
for me because for every single new thing that you want to start using; it asks you to create an
account/membership which makes you to have millions of account with different username and

passwords. If you are not using the web browser efficiently, then remembering all those
username and passwords is sometimes quite impossible.
The only thing is that I have experienced that Microsoft Lync mobile app (2010 version) is such
a useless app. The app only allows you to send message or email and make a call. That is it. It
does not allow you to start a meeting and invite people. It even does not show the meeting(s) that
you are invited by another person who created the meeting. I got problems when I tried to
connect and discuss the assignment with the other group member Sana. I was hoping to use the
mobile app for iphone for the Lync meeting but sadly I have learned that I can`t create a meeting
and I can`t invite people using the mobile app. Sana had to create the meeting and invited me but
this time the app did not show me the meeting that I was just invited. Refresh the meeting tab
couple of times but still the invitation did not show up. Then I had to go back and use the pc to
connect with my group. Microsoft Lync is now Skype for Business which means the features for
both Lync and Skype are combined and all in one now.

Asynchronous Communication Tool: Edmodo

Edmodo is another way to expand your classroom outside of the school setting. Edmodo
is a classroom website tool as being used within many schools as teachers` classroom webpages.

The layout of the Edmodo is pretty familiar to the students as having a Facebook look with
secure environment. No matter what level you teach you can create groups for that specific class.
For instance, as a math teacher, I can create 8th grade math algebra 1, geometry, and pre-calculus.
In Edmodo, you can even create subgroups under each group that you have created. This allows
you to differentiate your instruction for specific students to be able to fulfill their specific needs.
Once you have created the group the students and even parents can be invited to join the class
which allows them to be the only ones to be able to see and have an access to the material. There
is unique group code for each class that you create. You can email and invite them by sharing the
code. If they already have Edmodo account, they can simply join the class in a second with the
group code. Posting notes, sending notifications to the students/parents, post an assignment and

track the students who turned it in. You can also create quiz/test using Edmodo either by typing
the question into Edmodo or by uploading the one which is already created.

Another cool feature is that you can create polls to gather information from your students.
Snapshot which is an easy to use feature will help you to prepare your students to master
common core standards or state standards for ELA and math courses. Formative assessments can
be created using snapshot feature.
Edmodo provides opportunity to communicate with other teachers either in your district or
anywhere in the world who has an Edmodo account for working as a team, planning purposes,
networking, and learning creative ideas and best practices from others. Mobile app gives you the
flexibility to connect anytime in anywhere with internet connection.

Edmodo is free and very easy to use web based classroom tool. Teachers can connect with other
teachers all around the world. Being able to create subgroups is a valuable and feature. Giving
access to the parents beside the student account is another helpful feature that allows parents to
monitor their children Edmodo gives teachers most of the features a teacher need to connect,
communicate, and manage his classroom at a distance like blackboard. The thing is that Edmodo
is free.

Reaction How the Group Worked

As group number 7, we have chosen Microsoft Lync as distant learning
technology synchronous tool to experience and learn more about it. We have communicated via
course email first to decide which tool(s) we want to work on. After deciding to work on the
tools Edmodo and Microsoft Lync, we set a time and date to have a meeting to discuss the tools
via synchronous tool Microsoft Lync. I was planning to use my mobile device to connect with
the other group member Sana Yaqobi, I did not want to download Microsoft Lync to my
computer. When I tried to use the mobile app, I have realized that the Lync (2010 version)
mobile app does not give me the option to create a meeting and invite others to the meeting. Sana
had to use the pc version of it to create the meeting. She did that and invited me to the meeting
but the thing is that invitation did not want to appear under the meeting tab on my mobile device
app. I refresh couple of times but the meeting invitation did not show up. I had to quit using
mobile app and tried to use it on pc. I had to install the plugin first to be able to use it. Another
problem popped up, asked (of course) admin password. After all those trouble moments, we
finally connected via Lync using pc. One more problem I had at that time is the fact that my

computer does not have a webcam. So we couldn`t have video conference at that time. -I have to
say that it was a huge disappointment for me. - I connected the meeting by calling the number
Microsoft Lync provides. I have to admit also that the quality of the voice call was not very
good. I barely could hear the other side voice. There were two numbers to call to join the
meeting. Maybe I would try the other number that could have a better quality. Other than that we
experienced the features during the meeting such as chatting, screen/desktop sharing, power
point presentation sharing and document sharing. I uploaded and shared a document about the
communication tools with Sana over the Microsoft Lync. I would like to say that it was good
experience except the mobile app part.