We’ve had “unconferences” in the form of EdCamps for years. Now we have Unhangout for “unwebinars.” Unhangout is a free video conferencing service developed by a small team at the MIT Media Lab. Unhangout provides free video conferencing spaces that include chat and the ability to create break-out groups from the main video conference. The purpose of the break-out feature is to let the group start with a big conversation and then let small groups split off for conversations that develop during the conference. In that sense it’s a bit like the EdCamp “unconference” model. Watch the following video to learn more Unhangout.

Applications for Education
My initial thought about Unhangout is that it could be a good tool for online, informal professional development in the EdCamp model. For folks like me who don’t care for how impersonal some Twitter chats have become, Unhangout could offer a more personal connection to the folks with whom you’re discussing the issues of the day.

I learned about Unhangout from a post that David Kapuler wrote last week. Thanks David!