Educators have so often lived in the void that is our own classroom. Venturing across the hall could become a monumental challenge, even if the goal was simply to borrow some chalk or obtain a box of Kleenex. This isolationist mode is no more! Enter Skype with all its benefits! Instant connections to peers across the globe, the ability to bring an expert right into your own classroom, links to other ideas, other cultures, other viewpoints; all these are accessible through Skype.
Whether you ascribe to educational theories on connectivism, constructivism or any other ism, connections to other educators is totally empowering for an array of reasons, and Skype makes a great tool choice for connecting! My personal experiences with Skype have been encouraging. I team teach and with Skype, we can contact each other mid-class if necessary to answer any student questions about various symbiotic projects, homework, deadlines, etc. Sometimes our “calls” solve an immediate problem and prevent dragging out potential trouble shooting issues. For example, when one of our students is absent, he/she sometimes comes to see one teacher and is given information that perhaps is not totally clear unless the other teacher is also involved. A quick Skype can answer and clarify. Even trivial responses to interesting tidbits of information are sometimes desired during the course of class, and Skype offers a window AND a door into another teacher’s classroom.
I have thrilled to use Skype this summer with friends who have left town. Several of us are taking online courses, and through Skype we’ve been able to chat, answer questions, and share what we’ve learned! I need to add that Skype’s emoticons totally rockJ
I picture myself greatly expanding the use of Skype this coming school year. I know our CFF funding was cut, and that we no longer have access to a full time technology expert. I am thinking Skype can be used as a tool to fill the gaps when teachers have questions or technical issues that require immediate attention. Knowing I have a school full of peers I can turn to and help solve problems is pretty empowering! So, in essence, I hope to gain an enhanced network, greater security in having my peers “with me” in the classroom, greater connections to the outside world, and an increased sense of what it means to live in this globally connected world.
Sue, that’s great that you are already using skype. I have used it a couple times myself, but could stand to learn a bit more about. I couldn’t agree more with the ideas you have about using this with other peers to communicate. It cuts out all the middle work of traveling and having to find that person etc. I hope my staff is as open as it sounds yours has been to using it. Sometimes our teachers who have been around a while aren’t very interested in new technology.
Comment by Rusty Morris — July 10, 2009 @ 3:23 pm |
Great idea, Sue in using Skype among classrooms in the same building. I’ve used Skype for a while but had never considered its value in that way. I’ve got to try it! And how about this idea: Use Skype as an open microphone or with camera to share a class with others, even groups of teachers or administrators. Wouldn’t be a perfect sound track, but it might allow an audience who otherwise would be more intrusive in the room.
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Comment by skoelker — July 11, 2009 @ 12:33 am |
sue
hi
what a great idea. I dont have any personal experience in the use of skype but let me share an interesting fact. Few of my friends are using this technology to tutor their middle school children. The tutoring is one on one and it is based at india and pricing of this service is way way cheaper than if one hire a private tutor from USA. ( talk about labor shift) I dont want to go into ethical or moral aspects of the issue but just to mention that horizens are widen enormously with this technology.
Comment by shamim — July 11, 2009 @ 11:28 am |
I can see myself using Skype to connect with old friends, who have since left my area. It is certainly a great idea to use Skype to filter and resolve technology questions in the teacher community at school. I would have never thought of using it this way, but it certainly makes sense. I think that Skype encourages us to make connections with a variety of other people and cultures in so many ways.
Comment by Julie — July 11, 2009 @ 1:28 pm |
Sue,
I love your idea of using Skype in the same building and district! I think it’s so important that teachers in the same district keep in touch, bounce ideas off of each other and are teaching very similar concepts and curriculum. I think it’s great to use Skype to throw these ideas out there and see who is there to listen and help. The great thing about Skype is you can show a worksheet, book, problem, etc through the camera. The school phones you can only talk to each other. Thanks for sharing!
Comment by holliemajor — July 11, 2009 @ 11:25 pm |
I love the idea of getting immediate help from someone else, be it an IT person, a co-teacher, or maybe the librarians. As a study hall teacher, I can see this as an easy way to see if a student really went to where they said they were going or to check if the teacher they wanted to see was available BEFORE I sent them. And considering Steve’s idea of using Skype to share a class with others – this would be great for a student who had to be homebound for a time…both for their learning lessons and for keeping in touch with friends and the teacher. I don’t know what the availability for cameras and microphones is at our school, and I wonder if there are any legal issues, like when we have to get permission to just share pictures and their classwork. Auste is moving to the middle school this year, and she and I just chatted about how Skype will keep us better able to share material and ask one another questions about what we are doing with our new web 2.0 skills and attempts to use them. Great stuff!
Comment by iclemmer — July 12, 2009 @ 1:01 am |