Scoping Out Skype for Education
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
Skype is a software application that provides voice over internet protocol (VoIP) functionality. In other words, it’s a program that allows users to make free or low-cost telephone calls over the Internet. Skype is being used by the educational community in a number of ways, including intercultural projects, distance learning, and professional development. Users can also integrate additional tools, such as whiteboards, to create a more robust means of multimedia communication.
Intercultural Projects and Second Language Development
Educators are experimenting with Skype to enhance learning, particularly for intercultural programs. The CultureQuest Project, for example, encourages the study of different cultures. The project guide offers suggestions about how to interact with students in other countries using tools like Skype to organize international videoconferences with other classes and with experts in the field. CultureQuest is a project of the Center for School Development, School of Education, City College of the City University of New York.
Schools and independent learners are also using Skype to practice their language skills. In addition to more conventional “twinning projects,” there are sites that match up native language speakers with those who want practice their language skills; consider the use of Hebrew and English exchanges, for example.
Professional Development
Skype provides the ability to hold conference calls, or Skypecasts, that can be employed for professional development, resource sharing, and conference planning. These calls can also be saved as audio files and posted online for listeners to download. As a point of ethics and etiquette, participants should be made aware if the calls will be accessible to the public. The 2006 K-12 Online Conference sponsored a 24 hour Skypecast, a podcast of which can be found at Wesley Fryer’s blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity (to see how this event was organized, see the moderator page of the K-12 Online wiki).
EdTechtalk sponsors a number of live webcasts for communities of educators, many of which are broadcast on a regular weekly basis and are open to participants all over the world.
Distance Learning / Accessible Learning
iLearnTorah is an online bat/ bar mitzvah tutoring service that makes use of video-enabled Skype to conduct sessions. Students work with experienced teachers to learn Torah and Haftorah and to create personal learning projects. The program is run under the advisement of Josh Lauffer, a Jewish educator and musician, and Dr. Yossi Chajes, faculty in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa.
The video below, “Inclusion,” demonstrates a powerful use of Skype videoconferencing that makes learning more accessible to students. Produced by a fourth grade class, it tells the story of how the Agnes Risley School was able to embrace a student who had a serious illness and could not attend classes onsite: