I was extremely lucky this week. The assignment was to utilize a Web 2.0 tool. I also had a conference call I had to be a part of. So, in order to kill two birds with one stone, I suggested using Skype for the meeting. All parties agreed, so I went to work. I researched it online, I watched videos on how to do conference calls, when was the best time to do a call for everyone was.
I set up the time with the meeting coordinator and each of us e-mailed everyone to make sure they all knew the information. Friday night at 9:30pm. This would give each person a reasonable time to call in (I would be the 9:30pm time, all the others would be earlier) The only person we were worried about was the gentlemen calling in from New Zealand.
Then came the moment of truth…WOULD THIS WORK. I called the meeting coordinator, who answered quickly, and each of us called another person. They answered as well. By the time the calls were done, were had 18 guys from 16 different states and 3 countries (USA, Canada, New Zealand).
We talked and video conferenced for about two and a half hours, and no one lost their signal. Each person was heard loud and clear, and as long as each of us remembered when our turn to speak would be, the call went extremely smoothly.
I would recommend Skype for anyone who is either out of town for a meeting, or has a principal or manager who will allow them to Skype in their lesson or meeting.
Joe, I thought of using this tool, but was not sure about it. After I read your post, I am thinking about it again. Think about what you can do with this in the classroom? If you could coordinate with other schools in other states and even other countries, you could have endless possibilities with this. Your students could be talking to other students outside of the state to learn from other schools and students. I think might be worth looking into. why not take the students outside of the classroom without leaving the classroom!
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