#1 Skype in the Classroom appeared a week ago - my apologies - I meant to write the follow up post almost immediately.
Skyping authors seems to be a strategy a number of teachers have tried and reported great success with. Margo Pickworth, Teacher Librarian at the Shore Preparatory School in North Sydney reports that sessions with Hazel Edwards and Anthony Eaton were very successful.
Linda Langford of The King’s School Parramatta reports that Scot Gardner has also put his hand up. Linda says “It is only as good as the technology… can be really blurry/fluffy images… especially as you would want to connect to data projector… but as a small group chat on a theme such as belonging, well… it is as good as your imagination and creativity….”
Pauline Crawford, the Coordinator in Resources & Information Literacy at the Australian Science and Maths School in Adelaide tells that she had yr 12 students who used Skype as part of English Communications to interview and to collect information. All of them did it from home because they had the camera set up there. one student collected experiences about being a volunteer with the CFS and he used Skype several times. He managed to find a similar organisation in Canada and talked with a volunteer.
John Pearce pointed me to the work of “loisath” who gives a wonderful example of running inter-school debating on Skype. Her blog post gives some very practical tips on how to set up such an event. Her students said “We loved it, so much better than normal school!”
Jeanie Axton from St. Martins Lutheran School in Mt Gambier told me about a teacher hoping to Skype with an Antarctic explorer. Jeanie has had some experience in using it for a university course and feels that it works better one to one than with a big group. She says “It is best to have a test run before using it as it can lag depending on the number of users online at one time. A good quality web cam would be a great purchase if using with students and good speakers so they can hear clearly.”
Marty Coombe, the ICT Curriculum Manager at Scotch College Adelaide said
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Our year 10 and 11 students who have been studying Japanese have been successfully having Skype conversations with trainee teachers at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka. An excellent forum for both groups to engage in authentic conversation.. No major issues, a few occasional technical hiccups but generally it ran quite seamlessly on student laptops (macbooks) and the wireless network
Thanks to all the contributors to this edition of From the Coal Face.
If you would like to showcase what is happening with ICT in your school, then check what From the Coal Face is all about and email me with a short article and perhaps a photo or two.
6 Comments
Nice to hear that Skype is being used in Education.
The new feature of “desktop sharing” would be very handy for Web/ Computer training.
I agree that a good high resolution Webcam is desirable, as is good back lighting.
Thanks Kerrie for this blog. I am putting some online courses together in Moodle and one of the areas I am focussing on is Skype and one section how teachers are using it in the classroom. Your blog will be linked as a valuable resource.
Thanks
I found the comment interesting regarding the use of Macbooks with a wireless network. Unfortunately, using a wireless USB modem is not successful in my area - especially after about 7pm. During the rest of the evening the speed progressively drops until it would be quicker to use carrier pigeons!
Until our telco’s decide to stop overselling their capacity I don’t see any solution, so sadly I am happy to receive skype calls, but haven’t yet bothered to initiate any.
For Book Week, I did a Skype author interview with Timbarra Primary(Berwick Victoria) students organised by multi-media teacher Peter Crowe. His extensive preparation and PD presentation of the process would be immensely valuable for other educators. This was one of the best prepared web lessons in which I have been involved.
Was also involved in a Living Book Skype for an NT Educational Conference the same week.
The most elaborate author-Skype experience has been via a Chinese translated lesson as part of the nanjign -Australian Cultural Exchange. Details just updated on my website with photos.
Various authors are willing to be involved in Skype interviews with students. The Australian Society of Authors has a suggested modest fee, which works out much cheaper for schools than travel and accommodation costs for a vistiing author in remote regions.
Link to ASA fees from my website www.hazeledwards.com . I intend writing an article about Skyping from an author perspective soon but willing to answer any specific questions if you email me via my website.
My School Lilydale Heights(Victoria} is in the process of introducing a net book curriculum 2010. This is of great use to those families like mine who have sick kids,that would miss heaps of school work.We will be using the SKYPE feature to give our eldest ,who suffers with Fibro Myalgia{FM} & Chronic Fatigue {CFS} , a presence in the class through the web cam, Allowing her to interact and ask questions as well as answers. In effect the child is home schooling but ,when able, to go to the school and participate without falling to far behind with class activities.It also allows us parents piece of mind that our chidren are keeping up to date with their learning goals
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