Teacher uses Skype to link class to homebound student

As technology-using teachers, trainers, and other professionals, we can become so immersed in our “nuts and bolts” thinking about emerging digital technology that we often miss seeing the forest from the trees. A story worth re-telling here for seeing that forest again is one told by a technology-using teacher whose blog (Learning is Messy) has an entry that revisits the use of the now ubiquitous Skype VoIP software to link his class to a homebound student.

If you click on the following link, it will bring you to a page on his blog where you can click on a link labeled ““Inclusion” Video Project” that will download a five minute video (requires Quicktime movie plugin) of them using Skype during a class session which is narrated by the students and the teacher – and you can hear and see the kids communicating.

http://learningismessy.com/blog/?page_id=367

Watch this video and you will share with them what technology-using teachers and learners can’t always fully explain in words about the need to explore and find solutions to learning challenges with an appropriate use of available (and often emerging) technology.

Comments welcome,

Doc

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6 Responses to Teacher uses Skype to link class to homebound student

  1. Mary says:

    As a manager in a global organization and a recent graduate of an online master’s program, free applications like Skype are an intergral part of my life. Without them, I would not have been able to pursue a graduate degree, or perhaps more accurately, my online coursework would have been much less meaningful and engaging than it was. I am constantly discovering new ways to apply VoIP and VVoIP software to my work and personal life. Technology truly enables communication (not just verbal communication but also non-verbal communication with the addition of video) that would not otherwise be possible. The video posted on the “Learning is Messy” blog is an insipring example of how technology can remove barriers to communication, learning, participation, and interaction. I encourage educators at all levels to continue to think about how technology can be integrated to enhance and enable learning.

  2. Doc says:

    Thanks Mary, for sharing your perspectives on the benefits of VoIP software like Skype as an online learner and a higher education administrator. As much as it is the exemplary work of the teacher and his class in this example that illustrate the ability of VoIP to reach out and include learners who are not otherwise able to physically attend classroom sessions, you remind us also that administration must play a vital role – as it was through the active engagement of the administration of his school that the technology infrastructure of this educational innovation was implemented.

  3. David says:

    As data transmission becomes more efficient and video/audio applications more available for synchronous communication, the evolution and penetration within the educative setting is beginning to take shape. What once was standard science fiction is now on main stage Oprah, with Sykpe being the VoIP of choice.

    Rural school districts can connect and organize educative sessions with little or no costs, experts in the field can hold lectures without travel or relocation and home bound students can participate in classroom activities, all made possible by VoIP applications.

  4. Doc says:

    Thanks David, for your view of the state of VoIP in the educational field. I agree that the bandwidth and access of these applications have matured in the past decade or so and that it is really up to agents of change like this teacher and his school as well as you and many of the posters on this blog to bring about this positive change wherever there are educational challenges that make this technology the appropriate choice.

  5. Lenard Salce says:

    I think this post was probably a solid start to a potential series of posts about this topic. So many bloggers act like they understand what they’re talking about when it comes to this area and really, hardly anyone actually get it. You seem to grasp it though, so I think you need to start writing more. Thanks a lot!

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