Be sure to watch the video about this at the bottom.
I am very excited about the possibilities with Google Voice. After waiting about two months, I finally received an invitation today. It is basically like having a phone number that does not connect students/parents to your personal life. And it emails you transcripts of your voicemails. Therefore, you can always have a record of student/parent phone messages. Or you can record the actual calls as documentation (check on local laws for that). I believe that as long as you say you are going to record the call, you are okay.
Here are all the things Google Voice does:
First, you get a number that you pick from a list. Mine incorporates my school’s initials. I decided on that so that it would be easy to remember. When people call my my Google Voice number, it goes to my cell phone, where I can do all of the following:
(ALL OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAME FROM THE GOOGLE VOICE WEB PAGE.
One number for all your calls and SMS
- Call screening – Announce and screen callers
- Listen in – Listen before taking a call
- Block calls – Keep unwanted callers at bay
- SMS – Send, receive, and store SMS
- Place calls – Call US numbers for free
- Taking calls – Answer on any of your phones
- Phone routing – Phones ring based on who calls
- Forwarding phones – Add phones and decide which ring
Voicemail as easy as email, with transcripts
- Voicemail transcripts – Read what your voicemail says
- Listen to voicemail – Check online or from your phone
- Notifications – Receive voicemails via email or SMS
- Personalize greeting – Vary greetings by caller
- Share voicemail – Forward or download voicemails
More cool things you can do with Google Voice
- Conference calling – Join people into a single call
- Call record – Record calls and store them online
- Call switch – Switch phones during a call
- Mobile site – View your inbox from your mobile
- GOOG-411 – Check directory assistance
- Manage groups – Set preferences by group