Video Conferencing with Schools! Tips and Resources
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”- Mother Teresa
Get your copy of Hacking Digital Learning, The 30 Goals Challenge, or Learning to Go. Ask me about training your teachers, [email protected]!
More than ever we need global citizens who help make the world a better place. This is why one of the learning missions in my new book, Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom is to get students to take part in an intercultural exchange. Skype is a wonderful tool for getting your students to meet students virtually around the world. Below, find bookmarks to get you started. Teachers also use Google Hangouts, Appear.In, Zoom and other free video conferencing web tools for synchronous, real-time communication. However, Skype seems to be the safest video conferencing tools for schools and teachers have prepared several resources for its effective use in education.
Tips and Resources
Skype
- Skype in the Classroom in Nutshell
- How to Get Started with Skype in the Classroom (PDF), http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/educator-resources/historyconnects-and-distance-learning-technology/skype
- Skype Jobs for Students
- Try Mystery Skypes or Mystery Hangouts. Find student jobs for Mystery class meetings here.
- Cool Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom, http://www.teachhub.com/using-skype-classroom
- 6 Creative Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom, http://www.edudemic.com/skype-in-classroom
- Let’s Hang! 10+ Ways to Spark Collaboration with Google Hangouts
- Collaborative Group Sessions with Hangouts
- Doodle (Web/iOS/Android)- Create polls with suggested meeting times and dates and invite participants to select their preferences. Participants don’t need the app or an account to select their preferences. Syncs with your calendar.
- Time and Date (Web/iOS/Android)- Several tools to schedule meetings, such as a World Clock with the current time in each country, online calendars for countries worldwide, a meeting planner, a countdown clock, and more.
- World Time Buddy (Web/iOS/Android)- Visual world clock, easy time zone converter and meeting scheduler.