Skype

Video conferencing can be used to give classes online, even overseas and this is already in use. It can also be used to talk with far away friends or family members, for business or even for other things. It can also be used for just talking without using the camera option.

As a student I can use to receive online classes from someone far away or talk with a far away fellow student, or even with one who is at home.

Skype allows you to start a video chat or only a written chat or even a mixture of both. You can also share documents through it, or only speak and not use video or viceversa.

The requirements are a good grafics card and a decent CPU to manage the video processing. Of course a good internet connection is also primordial to have fluent communication.