Skype is a wonderful tool that I first heard about on Oprah. Oprah uses Skpe on a regular basis on her show. She is able to connect with people from all over the world to find out their views on the topics being discussed. No longer do they need to pay for expensive flights and hotel rooms to be a guest on the show.
In the classroom there are so many great possibilities with Skype. I would think Social Studies classes or Foreign Language classes could connect to people in the countries that they study and learn about their culture without ever leaving the classroom. In an English class it would be wonderful to talk to the author of whatever book the class is currently reading.
Students could even collaborate with students in other schools on group projects perhaps. I hope to try to include Skype in my classes this year in this way. I would like to contact a teacher from another school and put together an activity that the students could do with a partner from the other school. It sounds like a lot of fun and it really extends the classroom outside of the classroom walls.
Another way I could use Skype in the classroom is to talk to experts. What a great thing it would be if a stuent asked, “when will we ever use this?” and I could say, “let me see if I can get my friend the architect or an accident reconstruction investigator to answer that question for you.” What a great way to bring a speaker into the class.
iclemmer said,
July 12, 2009 at 1:11 am
Auste, I love the idea about bringing experts into the classroom via Skype! Maybe we can share resources to find some local experts who are parents and not-so-local experts, too. Maybe we could try to get some or our ALICE programming classmates in on it, too.
dyeilding said,
July 13, 2009 at 1:46 pm
The idea of bringing in experts to share with students via Skype seems like a time-saving, money-saving, twist on the field trips of old. Being able to provide a real-world application via an expert or relatable figure can be worth gold…the proverbial, “teachable moment.”
You have sparked a potential observation idea for my 7th grade child development unit. Wouldn’t it be beneficial if we can work out a way to Skype an observation of our high school operated preschool! Then as we discuss stages of development (very dry for a 7th grader) we can actually watch kids and talk about what we see. I can’t wait to float this idea.
I like the idea of using Skype to mentor as well. Again, I can see potential of high school Family & Consumer Science students mentoring middle schoolers through one of our units. Of course, the collaboration potential of Skype is its biggest benefit—for students and teachers alike.