AIM program director, Dr. David Krause reported recently, "During the winter break we will be upgrading all of the 28 workstations in the AIM Room with Microsoft Lync 2010. This communications software will contain many enhancements to the features that were using in Microsoft's Live Meeting 2007. Based on the test run today, I am confident we are going to have dramatically improved online AIM meeting experiences in 2011."
"Microsoft Lync - which runs on Marquette University's servers - will allow for a single program to run our online meetings and instant messaging," Dr. Krause added. "As meeting organizers, we will now be able to control who gets access remotely to our AIM investment meetings. In other words, guests to our AIM meetings can include those attending in person and those who connect across the web from anywhere in the world."
"The beauty of this is that our invited web guests can join us for an AIM meeting using a simple Microsoft Lync Web App that runs in a web browser or on a smart-phone," Krause continued. "By downloading and installing the Web App, our guests can join our meetings and participate in IM and voice conversations - and data sharing, which can include desktop and program sharing."
"Dr. Krause said, "In a nutshell here's what Microsoft Lync will allow us to do from within the AIM Room:
- Share our desktop or a program. This will allow individual or group editing and teaching sessions.
- Show slides. Add a PowerPoint or Excel presentation to our AIM meetings.
- Write on a whiteboard. Take notes or diagram ideas.
- Send files. Make handouts available to participants or quickly send documents to one person or all guests.
- Send and receive video. See AIM student presenters and guests at their desks - and with our panoramic camera, the guests can see everyone in the AIM Room.
- Record and play back meetings. If a student misses an AIM meeting it will be possible for them to see it later in its entirety using a browser plug-in."