IDroo

IDroo is a great tool, providing a shared whiteboard for people using Skype. People who have been invited to the whiteboard can view, edit, save and share any whiteboard that the person is participating in.

How do we use IDroo?

The above video shows what tools there are, but it does not really show how to invite your students or how to manage the whiteboard pages nor tabs.

On the top right hand side of the IDroo window when you start the program, there is a box labeld "Participants". We can easily add people by following the instructions inside that box. Upon clicking it should give you a list of people who you can share the whiteboard with. All you have to do is click on the desired participant and click "add", and they will be sent an invite to join your whiteboard.

Just below the Participants box, there is another labeled "Pages". This works very similar to the powerpoint or IWB page selection functions. All the pages on the whiteboard will be shown here, but the pages from other whiteboard tabs will not be. You can add a new page by pressing the + button at the bottom left of this box, and can delete any unwanted pages by first clicking on the undesired page, then clicking on the trash button located on the bottom right corner of the pages box.







Another function IDroo has is that it can keep one whiteboard independent of another. We can do this by using the tab functions.

As you can see, there are 3 boards currently open. As mentioned before, these boards are completely independent of each other, meaning that each board can be shared to different people at a certain time, and the pages in each boards are not linked also.

Additionally, there are Mathematical formulae which can be used embedded inside the tool, but this function is not so helpful in teaching English. unless the students are learning how to say/read Mathematical symbols.

Any particular implementations for Language Learning?

IWBs are used a lot in today's classrooms, and this is just an online version of it... almost(IWBs actually offer a lot more functionalities than IDroo). So the usefulness of this tool I think is pretty self-explanatory. A distance learning classroom which is connected by Skype, and the teacher and the students can interact in real time. 

Making use of the tab functions, a teacher can divide students into groups, and instruct them to create a board just for their group, and work on their projects, without interference from students in other groups. When they finish, each group can invite everyone in the class to share what they have done. 

Most importantly, because this is an add-on application for Skype, the entire class could be in a conference call, and flexibly move in and out of the main group conversation(the one with the entire class in it) and their own group conversations(for their groupwork), then the teacher/s can instruct and/or help them, given that they are in the individual groups' conference calls. 

Benefits and Limitations

• Free to use in a non-commercial use
• Great for one-on-one, group tutoring
• Great for distance learning classes
• Various uses for big groups
• You must have Skype and IDroo installed for this to work
• Open to abuse - everyone who is invited can alter the whiteboard
• Conversations can turn very chaotic when everyone speaks
• Easily replaced by webinar tools