What is your experience with using video during Skype sessions? I have not had a student do this yet, but I feel that it’s much more helpful. What are your opinions?
I’ve had one-on-one video conversations, but I wasn’t sure if my old computer’s processor could handle video in a conference call. I’ve since appropriated my husband’s computer which is a bit faster, and I might give it a go.
I’m not tidying up first though 
I use video on all one on ones wherever possible. Tana and Vera (Russian and German) have done the same with me and it is great.
I also think that it is great, and helpful, to see the person we’re talking to!
Yes, I love video skyping – but I think some students are intimidated or nervous. Often my students have a video feed, but they do not use it. I’ll ask them next time, but I don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable.
Maybe the settings in Skype are the problem. I just assume that if the chat doesn’t start as a video, the student isn’t interested.
I appreciate all of your thoughts!
I’m a little selfish regarding to video, I guess…
I do have a web cam, and on my one-on-ones with Steve, he always use the video, but I don’t, although I recognize it is great to see the other person…
So, why do I insist on not using it? Well, I have a bunch of reasons…
- the image quality of my web cam is terrible (it came embbeded in the notebook, and it was not a priority for me at the time I bought it to have a great webcam)
- I try to avoid to overload my internet connection with video. Remember that upload bandwith is smaller than the download one.
- normally, my events are late at night and I’m wearing my pyjamas or something like this… hehehehe
Right, Vladimir and I have just conducted an experiment, and found that having the video significantly affected the sound quality and drop-out rate for our conversation. I would suggest that unless you have a very clear connection you don’t switch the web-cam on.
Next time I have a group discussion I will try switching the webcam on and see what impact it makes.
The reason our connection wasn’t that good might have been that my son was surfing You Tube on a wireless connection during the call. That chews up some of my bandwidth.
I think you cannot use video on the conference call. I have a webcam and I love video call, too. For now, I only use it to a certain people. I think it will help beginners especially, so I am thinking of using videos in my beginner courses 
I’m a bit disappointed that video is proving difficult to use. I wanted to sit during tutorials stroking a dodo like a James Bond villain
That would have been a sight!
I have had a one-on-one to Hong Kong with video in both directions which worked fine. That suggests that my connection was faster for the second conversation (when my son wasn’t on his computer), also that Hong Kong may have faster broadband that Nizhny Novgorod.
I think the answer is to kick my son off his computer when I want to use my webcam.