Friday, November 30, 2007
What is Skype?
Skype lets you make free calls to any other Skype user from your PC. It’s free and has more than 29 million registered users worldwide, with an average of two million using the service at any given time. Here’s the really cool thing . . . my colleague and I downloaded, registered, and hooked up on a Skype call between our classrooms in less than 15 minutes, all while our students were observing, learning, and being wowed by the whole process. I will definitely use this cool tool with my business technology class. And here’s my vision for other uses: Hooking up with business professionals on location at their organizations for a chat about their job. This could be a virtual “job shadow.” Hooking up with another classroom, from another school, from another country to share ideas on a given topic is a great way for interactive exchange. You can do this with Skype. How about the co-teaching possibilities, with synchronous, real-time give and take of expertise. And Skype has safety in mind for those who fear the “bad” side of connectivity. Here’s a link and another for helpful suggestions for using Skype safely in your classroom.
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5 comments:
Of all the emerging technologies that I've seen so far, Skype seems to be the most accessible and usable for the kinds of classes most of us most often see. As your description of what happened when you hooked up suggests, Skype is easy and fast to install and use, it packs a great "wow" for students (not just students) and it does a great job of making the classroom walls melt away. What's not to like?
I really like your idea about a virtual "job shadow". Skype would make an excellent addition to a career unit where students are researching jobs that they are interested in. Nice ideas! Mindy
I can see more people are excited about Skype than I am. I went to download it on my computer and I wasn't allowed. I appreciate your enthusiasm for using this tool as a teacher. I would have liked to be a fly on your shoulder watching you set it up with your colleague.
Great Post, Great Ideas! I really thought that was clever how you used SKYPE to communicate with another classroom. My only problem would be finding another person who would understand how to use Skype. technology is growing at alarming rates and teachers are retreating just as fast!
GRRR!! I’m the top dog, dawg. I’m the leader of this pack. My name is Dozer and I’ll run you over. I’m a big dog, dawg, and nothing keeps me down. I make friends easily, but I can be vicious. If you mess with me or my friends, I’ll bite your leg off. ;)
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