Well, times have surely changed. There are now many ways to videoconference. The educational applications are many; you can invite guest speakers to connect from their location, hold discussions with classrooms around the world, facilitate distance learning, and more.
Here are some tools that you can use, with a brief discussion of each (note that these apps are frequently updated, so you may find different functionality in the most recent version).
First off, here's what all of these apps support:
- Sharing your screen, so other participants can see a presentation or document, etc.
- Multiple participants
- Ability to mute audio and/or video
- Ability to participate by phone
- Chat/text messaging
This was the first well-known application for computers It requires installing software on your Windows of Mac device. If you're on a Chromebook, consider a different application at this point. Users need to have a Microsoft account (Skype is now owned by Microsoft).
Works in the browser, so it's great for Chromebooks as well as Windows and Mac. Detects who's speaking, changing the video focus to that person. You can invite people who don't have Google accounts.
GoToMeeting, Cisco WebEx, Adobe Connect...
These are popular apps in the business world. They requires downloading software or installing a Chrome extension. Free versions are limited. You may be invited to one of these by an organization or business, but I would not recommend using this for your class.
There are many other computer-based applications, as well, but I would start with either Google or Skype.
One thing I have found using these tools for distance learning is that they allow students to participate in the mode with which they are most comfortable. Some like to broadcast video, others audio only, and others by text.
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