Thing #15

Skype

Prior to exploring  Skype for this assignment, I had very little experience with all Skype has to offer. For years, I only knew it as a messaging system, a way to connect with someone in another location. After researching and visiting other podcasts, blogs, and websites, the educational benefits are exciting. I can not wait to bring my team members on board and collaborate on other ways we can bring it into the classroom. I do not want to just rush things without making sure we are utilizing it to its full potential. I am looking forward to taking to the kids on a virtual field trip with Skype next semester, where we can immerse the class in a different ecological setting, and have them communicate with a guest speaker in the rain forest/marine ecosystem, or the like, to discuss some conservation efforts, and human global impact on ocean systems. For years we have assigned the students to groups and had them read articles and conduct additional research, but I feel that providing real world opportunities and examples for the students to make connections, would definitely prove to be more beneficial in the long run, and possibly even turn some of them to pursue science careers. In addition to virtual field trips and guest speaker opportunities, I explored lessons that other educators have created using Skype. I even found something I want to customize/edit to include in my WebQuest that I would never have thought of otherwise. I am so glad I was able to explore Skype some more because just last week our District presented a training on the new features of Office 365, and Skype was one of them. We got to set it up in our work accounts and will use it also for lesson planning, with our team members. How exciting!