Gong

From Schoolforge-UK

The Gong System

Gong is a free, although not open source, system for voice communication on the Web, available from http://gong.ust.hk/ . It allows groups of people such as students and teachers to participate in discussion groups using their computers, using both synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous chat. It is commonly used by schools and universities for providing a 'voice board' for teaching purposes.

Gong as a Standalone System

The Gong system can be used by itself. After setting up the Gong server users can use their browser or the Gong program to use the Gong system. Participants can then leave text and voice messages on voice boards. They can listen to and reply to text and voice messages left by other people. A group of people can join a real-time text/voice chat which can be recorded on voice boards. Any messages can be quickly played back by streaming the voice from the server. In addition, there are features such as personal messaging, support for multiple languages, styled text editing, voice editing, voice speed up/slow down, selective word/phrase playback and support for multilingual interface. There is also unique support for the Chinese Mandarin Pinyin and Chinese Cantonese Yale romanization systems.

Using Gong with Moodle

Gong is available as a free module for the Moodle free course management system. By using Gong with Moodle courses can have a voice board system where participants can leave text and voice messages on course voice boards. They can listen to and reply to text and voice messages left by other people. Any messages can be quickly played back by streaming the voice from the server. In addition, when using Gong as a Moodle module these features of Gong are available: support for multiple languages, styled text editing, voice editing, voice speed up/slow down, selective word/phrase playback and support for multilingual interface. There is also unique support for the Chinese Mandarin Pinyin and Chinese Cantonese Yale romanization systems.