Appear.in: a free video chat room

This post is an account of my first test with the website APPEAR.IN , which allows you to video chat with up to eight people for free. https://appear.in/

How does it work?

As usual, I was super excited to try it out. I created my own room TESTINGANA, copied the link and sent an invite to my PLN on Facebook.

A few minutes later, I got my first visit, an American lady (I didn't get the chance to ask her much as she only dropped in to say hello). Then, Cíntia Rabello, an e-friend, an e-colleague, I had never had the chance to talk f2f accepted my invitation to try the room. Thank you, Cíntia!

As no one else joined us and we wanted to see how the webcam images looked with more than two people, Cíntia got into the room with another device. We talked a bit about her PHD experience in England which I had been following via Facebook and also checked what was possible to do with the site.

Two Brazilians together..... our conversation was in Portuguese, of course. I also tested recording a part of our conversation with QUICKTIME on my Mac. I guess the same kind of recording (a screencast) would work with SCREENCAST-O-MATIC or JING.

 

What did I like about it?

1. It's free.

2. There's no need to log in or to have an account.

3. It's not necessary to download anything.

4. A simple interface, just click and talk.

5. The chat room also provides a text chat space.

How could we use this site with students?

- To meet with a small group of students.
- If you have a big group of students you can organize groups of 8 who could get together on different days to practise discussing a topic or even chat using English.
- A group of students could interview a foreigner or an expert in a field.