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Skype in the Classroom-
High speed Internet has truly flatten the world and change the way we do business. It has given classrooms the opportunity to interact, collaborate and exchange ideas around the world. Video conferencing allows educators to break down the barriers of time and distance, allowing their students to experience the power and tools of the 21st century. Tools like Skype allow synchronous, real-time discussions without cost.
Now, if you are new to the service Skype, let me briefly describe the tool. Skype is free software for both the Mac and PC that allows you to make free calls with or without video from your computer. The connection is made over the Internet to anyone else who also has this service. Skype also allows users to make phone calls to land lines as well with a small fee. Skype is a free and easy way for educators to connect their classroom with the world. Not only can Skype allow classroom connect with other classrooms and students, but it can allow teachers to bring experts into their classrooms to help expand their knowledge and engage students in the learning process. With the addition of a inexpensive web camera, teachers and students can now easily connect to others
Now, before you start using Skype in the classroom, there is some planning and preparation that should be done, here are some simple tips to help in this process:
â Plan your video conference from start to end. Have a backup plan in case there are technical issues
â Have Pre and Post activities that reinforce the conference learning experience (Example: Blog or Wiki Hands on Activities)
â Do a test call prior to your event
â Use the chat feature if experience any audio technical issues
â When not speaking, mute the microphone
â Go over the "Video Conferencing Etiquette" tips prior to the event
â Have the speaker walk to the camera and microphone instead of the camera and microphone going ot
the student
â Make sure both parties are hard wired to the network...use wireless on rare occasion and events
â If sharing documents or 3 dimensional objects, try using a document camera that can double as a web camera and document camera
â Carpeted rooms sound better than hard surfaced floor rooms
â Finally and most importantly, make usre that you have set some of the security features
Ways to Integrate Skype:
- Video Pals
- Virtual Field Trips
- Ask an Expert
- Sharing Instructors
- iProjects - online projects with other schools
- Mystery Reader
- Ask an Author (use Skype Author Network)
- Instructing the Homebound
- Share Professional Development
- Teacher Collaboration and Teaming
Skype Etiquette:
Participants
â Arrive early - Make sure that you arrive on time for class so your entrance is not a distraction.
â Sit where you can be seen - The farther from the camera you are, the less identifiable you will be to the other participants.
â Speak in a normal tone and volume â Speak clearly and enunciate without yelling.
â Speak toward the camera. - Turning away from the camera has a tendency to
distance you from the other conference sites.
â Listen carefully and pause for a response â There my be a small delay in audio between sites, so pause and allow time for others to respond. This way you will avoid talking over one another.
â Be courteous of others â Avoid side conversations, not only can they be distracting but they can be heard be other participating sites.
â Everything can be heard â Please avoid chewing gum, tapping of pencils and other small noises, they can be heard by all sites.
â Be polite, respectful and courteous â Be courteous and use a polite voice
Download Skype at: www.skype.com
SafeShare-
YouTube is a great resource for educators to find content for their classrooms, but sometimes the additional content found on the YouTube page may not always be appropriate for students to see in your classroom...that is where SafeShare comes in. SafeShare is a service that allows you to share those YouTube videos that you need and only those videos that you need. Now, SafeShare is not a filtering service, but a tool that disables linking back to YouTube when clicking on the video that is being watched. Now YouTube does offer filtering within its service, but using SafeShareNot removes distracting and offensive elements around YouTube videos and it also allows you to crop videos before sharing them. Try safeshare today...visit the TechTeacher Network website and get start today.
With budgets becoming tighter and tighter, both school districts and universities are looking for alternatives to services like Blackboard and Desire2learn...just to name a few...and move to an open source Learning Management System called Moodle. Moodle is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.
Now...just a side note...the actual software that runs Moodle is free, there will probably be some additional costs like server hosting and in house support.
Recently we discovered KeyToSchool.com which offers free Moodle hosting. Key To School is a non-profit project managed by a group of Moodlers who want to spread the joy of Moodling and help relieve the cost and overhead for educational groups. Key to School allows many of the same experiences of paid hosting services...customizable domain names, a gallery of course themes along with the abiltiy to add your own personal logo. they also offer 2500 Users 2.5 GB of storage 50 GB of bandwidth FTP access Moodle Themes and mostly No Ads
Key To School is of Free of charge and is completely supported by donations. So, head on over to our site to get started with Key to School
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