Journal 9- Playing with Skype

Journal 9 - Playing with Skype

Weller, T.J. (2010). Playing with Skype. ISTE, 37. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/20100304#pg30

In this article, the author Travis J. Weller talks about his past experiences with the program Skype.  Skype is a type of application downloaded from the Interne, allowing users to communicate with each other users via web camera.  Wellers says that he has one steadfast rule about using technology in my classroom and rehearsal hall: If it makes for a richer educational experience, then it is worth it.  He goes on and says how his experience with Skype was certainly enriching and well worth the brief amount of time if took for everyone to figure it out.  In the Connecting with Experts section, the author makes an interesting point and says that Skype makes it possible for educators to seek out experts in their subject areas and invite them to share in the classroom.

As a future teacher, would you use Skype in your classroom?

No, I would not use Skype in my classroom.  I, wouldn’t use it because I would choose other programs first such as iChat to video conference with other users.  There may be certain situations where Skype could be very useful though.

Do you see any problems with using Skype?

The only problem I could think of that would happen would be if Skype weren’t working, internet wasn’t connecting, camera wasn’t working, or the computer itself weren’t working.  There may also be time where the connection gets lost as well.  If teachers choose to use these sort of applications in the lesson plan, they should also have a back up plan in case anything happens.

that great.