Skype involves a person making a high-quality audio “phone call” over the Internet. Skype is a free program, which is amazing! You can call someone on a different continent and chat for free! WOW! You can also see the other person if you have a webcam. This is a great way for families to communicate with each other instead of paying high prices to a phone company.
As I have been learning about Skype, I realize this is a great technology tool to use in the classroom! Skype allows students to write, share and communicate with an audience. Students can see and hear someone from a different country and culture. This is a great way to get students accustomed to different cultures, people and perspectives. The article read in class gives a resource to contact other educators who are interested in using Skype. The website is www.epals.com, which I have already joined and will be using in my class.
Skype also has an Instant messaging software. This is a great feature to have because your microphone could break or you could have technical difficulties (which we all have). It is also a great tool used to communicate regularly. I have used AIM, an instant messenger, a great deal in the past. I have used this program to communicate with friends. You can put up an away message, which tells what you are doing. This feature is somewhat like twitter in that way. I may use Instant messenger in my classroom but it would probably be on skype versus AIM. Other than using Instant messenger with another class (through Skype-possible technical difficulties), I do not see myself using this in the classroom.
