This Week in Education: Skype
by Ashley Best
Re-Vision Labs Fellow
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Week of December 28th, 2009 – January 1st, 2010
SKYPE: Skype is a software that allows over-the-internet voice and video chat between Skype users for free! It can also incorporate instant messaging, text messaging and calls to landlines. This versatile and user-friendly software has taken internet communication to a level of ease and accessibility. Like many useful technologies, there is great potential to use this software in the classroom for collaboration and the ePals section of the Skype software makes it easily possible for teachers and classrooms to connect to each other. Over-the-internet learning is a steadily growing market and integrating this useful and connective software in the classroom presents endless opportunities and creative outlets for students and educators alike.
Skype allows connectivity in the classroom in new and exciting ways!
1. What You Need: Written by an educator, this short article explains the necessary equipment, space, and permissions needed to set up Skype accounts for students, as well as precautions that should be considered.
2. History Comes To Life: An awesome example of how a teacher connected his history lesson plans with a expert in the field, a curator at a National Museum using Skype. (Yes, yes, this is in Canada.)
3. Virtual Field Trips: School field trips are not always an option due to budget, proximity, or other factors, but with Skype, students can take a live tour of a new place and ask questions about what they are seeing!
4. Interviews in (or out of) the Classroom: These high school students are studying broadcast journalism and use Skype to conduct interviews off campus. Pretty handy!
5. The More the Merrier: 50 great ideas on how to incorporate Skype in the classroom. These ideas stretch from lesson planning to parent-teacher conferences to learning a foreign language.
Check back for next week’s hot topic! Education is empowering. Enjoy the week & Happy New Year!
Similar Posts:
- This Week in Education: Classroom Blogging
- This Week in Education: Technology in Schools
- This Week in Education: Parental Involvement
