What is a “service”, and what is a “software”?

• A service is something users want to consume. For example, a web service can offer web sites. If I want to “talk over the internet” with a video chat, so see the other persons face and hear them, I want to use a “video chat service”.
• A software is code, instructions for the computer, on how to provide a service. So a web server software is code which a computer executes, and then can offer the web service - so provide web sites. Services like “video chat” can be provided in running software like Jitsi or BigBlueButton.

Also for example google meet is a service. The software providing this service is proprietary, and google is running that software.

How can I find out which software or service I should use for my lessons? Example: we use LINE for chats. How does it fare? Under which circumstances should I look for alternatives?

As a first step: try to understand what you want to accomplish, which functionality you expect from the software.

• Do you want to move in-person-lessons online? Then video chat software is a good candidate: transmitting audio + video between participants. Also text chat is offered there. Also screen sharing, so one person can offer their screen, the others see it. Examples are Jitsi, BigBlueButton, google meet, skype.
• Do you want many people to write a text at the same time? Then google docs, or etherpad for example can be used.
• Do you want text chat? Examples: Line, signal, threema as service, or matrix as software
• Do you want file exchange? Examples: google drive as service, nextcloud as software.
• Do you want to present own material, and have the students learn interactively? Examples: moodle as software, or commercial software or services.

Further relevant points:

• What are your privacy expectations? Is it ok for service providers to read/access your data?
• What are your availability expecations? Is it ok for the service to be down for some time?
• Can you host the software yourself? That would mean you can operate the system which executes the software, also keep it up2date, understand something about security of the system. If not, you could pay a company to do that for you. Or you can directly use the service.
• Get an overview of which services and software can provide what you want, and what their downsides are. Can you try out some of the candidates to evaluate them deeper?
• How future proof is your solution? Let's say you decide for a free service from a company, the service matches your needs perfectly. If the service costs money in 6 months, how will you deal with that? Can you then export the data you stored there, or is your data locked in there?

I'm worried that we rely on one service/software, and it becomes suddenly unusable. How bad is that? How can I prevent that?

You have the 2 big choices: to use a service hosted by someone (google meet, facebook, etc.) or to run a software yourself to provide the services.

In both cases the services can go down, or simply your ISP can go down and the network prevents you from accessing the service. If you pay for a service, you might be able to agree with the provider on guaranteed uptimes of the service, but even then your network might go down.

So simply be aware of what can go wrong, and if certain scenario look to likely/dangerous to you, invest in lowering chances that they happen: i.e. if you run an own server and fear network going down, get a second internet provider so you can fail over.

For example, which tech do you use to support your learning, Chris?

I am learning technical things around my job, and I work in improving my Japanese. Let's focus on that.

• For learning and keeping vocabulary, I use two sites, http://iknow.jp/ and https://memrise.com . You probably know flash-cards, having for example a Kanji on top, and then the spelling or meaning in your native language on the other side? These are used to verify knowledge. But doing this online, an algorithm remembers if I know a Kanji, and then optimizes the time I get asked about it next time. So for vocab, I do not run software myself, I use payed services from these 2 sites.
• I do a lesson with a teacher once per week, for one hour, via video chat. I also do tandem partner training, also via video chat software.
• On website lang-8.com, I write articles in Japanese, and Japanese natives correct the texts.
• I follow news in Japanese, over the internet.
• I listen to a podcast where both English and Japanese are spoken. Podcasts are kind of “recorded radio transmissions”, a bit like a youtube video but where just audio is recorded. I download the files, and can listen them with an mp3 player, or a smartphone.

• Can you make recommendations of free (as in free beer) software which I can use for teaching?
  • See above, and here. And more importantly, do own research on the internet, ask peers on how they solve the same issue you have.
• I'm worried about apps/software leaking information, is that a problem at all? How fares “Google Classroom” in that regard?
  • You need to distinguish here on whether you run the service yourself, or if you have a provider like Google. If you have a provider, you can ask them, and then need to decide whether you can trust their answers. If you provide the service yourself, the answer will depend on the specific software - we can discuss with a specific software in mind.
  • Also be aware of the potential damage, what could happen worst case?
• Which tech do you use for doing this teaching session, Chris?
  • At this moment we are using a video chat software, Skype. It offers video, audio, chat transmission, and screen sharing.
  • I use a wiki software (dokuwiki) to memorize these points.
  • I used 'dia' as diagram software, and a simple text editor to modify a text file.
• Can you give us recommendations how we can use computer/the internet to enhance school lessons?
  • video chat software: to shift lessons from in-person to online
  • file sharing: allow students to upload homework, to access material from the lessons
  • record lessons audio/video, so students who are ill can watch it afterwards, or to watch it 3 times to improve understanding
  • spawn an open project for example to collaborate with other teachers to prepare material for lessons, which you all use then. There are many projects on the internet collaborating to online map material, public music, open source software, commonly usable images, to collect public domain texts, or model files freely usable in 3D-printers. Lesson material projects would also be a good idea.