Skype in the Classroom is a free community that has been set up to help teachers everywhere use Skype to help their students learn. It’s a place for teachers to connect with each other, find partner classes and share inspiration. It’s free to sign up, just use your regular Skype account – or set up a separate Skype account to use in the classroom.
Skype offers an immediate way to help students discover new cultures, languages and ideas, all without leaving the classroom. It allows for free video conferencing. All you need is a webcam.
You can access it here: http://education.skype.com/
Once registered, teachers create a profile that sets out their interests, specialties and location. They can then create projects, which is a way to find partner classes, partner teachers or guest speakers for a specific learning activity. Teachers can also browse through a members-only directory to find teachers who can offer them help, or whom they might be able to help.
The Skype in the Classroom site also includes a growing library of resources to help teachers share teaching resources, lesson plans, videos, links and tips around using in their classrooms.
Here are just a couple of ideas:
Cultural exchange : Introduce your students to new ways of seeing the world with a cultural exchange between your class and another classroom anywhere in the world. Timezones permitting.
Language skills : Cotnact schools in other countries and have conversations to can practice a new language with a class of native speakers, or help EAL students practice their skills.
Ask an expert : Contact real experts on different subjects related to classwork. Or pupils play the role of experts.
For some more ideas on using Skype – take a look at Sylvia Tolisanos blogposts such as Framing a Skype Learning Experience or Third Graders- Called Upon As Experts.
And also take a look at Jen Deyenbergs blog to see some of the things she’s been doing with Skype.
Happy Skyping!
Photo Credit : Credit Cut in Imperial Telecommunication by Stefan.
Great post. I’ll be really interested to hear what pupils have been up to via skype. It’s an amazingly powerful tool when used in the right way.
This is really interesting. The kids today will have a completely different reality when it comes to world views than I did with National Geographic (Bless em) Magazines. For cool teachers – who know how to create curiosity – this will be an amazing tool. It’s making the world a much smaller place.
Thanks for the great post.
I use this to teach all of the time. Have you heard about the Eyecam? It’s really worth a look. http://bitline.co.uk/index.php?cID=71