To the FIRST Alumni currently in college & out in the industry, FIRST Teams and anyone else involved in FIRST: Do you use Skype as a tool to communicate with your teams because your availability is limited by location or time constraint? Do you use Skype for other reasons? Do you use any other video communication technology?
Yes. We used Skype and the iDroo app as a whiteboard (other online, download-free whiteboards were ineffective) to communicate while we were snowed in back in Week 2-3.
I’ve been mentoring Team 971, my HS team, from long distance for the past 6 years using a variety of telecommunication techniques. Recently I’ve started using Google Hangouts, because of the ability to do it from/to any computer, and the nice screen-sharing capabilities.
Previous methods have been phone, IM and VOIP calls to join in at some meetings. I primarily communicate by email though.
I use Skype occasionally in place of the phone, since I do not get consistent cell service in my apartment.
We have used Skype some (with screen sharing) in order to help other teams with programming issues. It is not a bad way to provide help if you can’t be there.