Class Websites & Skype in the Classroom

Class websites or blogs are a great addition to any effective classroom. They allow you to compile all components of your teaching (assignments, discussions, grades, communication, etc) in one spot that can be used for you to communicate with your students, for them to keep up to date with classroom activities, and for parents to stay involved in their children's education. I personally will definitely be using a website in my classroom. I like the idea that all important information can be posted online and accessed from anywhere. This will undoubtedly clear up many communication issues between students, teachers and parents before they even arise. I think it is also a great way to post additional learning material and related topics to engage students further and get them interested in a specific subject area.

Many people have often used Skype as a free long distance communication tool to talk with friends or relatives, but have never really thought much about other applications from this form of communication.

Skye is an excellent communication tool to use in a classroom. There are so many applications for it beyond simple communication with students outside of the classroom. You can stretch online communication further with Skype and have guest speakers in the classroom via Skype, communicate with parents, communicate with other classrooms and students around the world, just to name a few. I really like the idea of communicated with students in other parts of the world as it is very rare for many kids to get the opportunity to see what life is like for other cultures first hand. This is a great way to open doors and inspire curiosity about the world outside your comfort zone. A great initiative in this direction has already been started:  

 The Around the World with 80 Schools Project". This is a global communication project where schools from across the globe connect with each other. The general idea is for students from each classroom to have the opportunity to connect for a few minutes with each other to help them not only to understand other cultures, but to show them just how technology and globalization is making our world smaller. Check out their website to learn more about this project.

http://aroundtheworldwith80schools.net/
Check out this video, these students are playing a question and answer game with another school and they have to figure out where in the world they are from:


The Mystery Skype Call from langwitches on Vimeo.

I think something like this would be so fun!!
Skype can also be used to bring people into your classroom that you could not normally get in. The Royal Tyrrell museum has a in class program where a dinosaur expert gives you the grand tour but you don't even have to leave your desk!



This is just another form of education through Skype, it just doesn't carry the name brand of Skype with it. It shows you how distance learning and communication can be made easy through Skype.

References:
http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/programs/distance_learning.htm
http://aroundtheworldwith80schools.net/