Skype

If you read my post on Yugma, you read about another free web based resource for professional as well as personal use. This resource is called Skype. I am an avid user of this resource. It allows me to contact those in my contact list immediately through my computer. I spend many hours each day online. When I want to collaborate on an idea, I look for people available to call. I then send a chat message to see if they are available to talk. If so, I call them (if only 1) or start a conference call (if more that one). This brings me to the feature I like most, the ability to make a conference call with up to 10 people. I have used this feature many times. My peers and I have collaborated on upcoming presentations, planned family events, demonstrated Skype as well as other online tools, and connected students with others on various projects. You can also purchase Skype credit to allow calls to landlines or mobile phones. This is a great resource! Check it out!

Web 2.0

I’ve been very busy lately listening in on sessions at the K12 Online Conference, participating in Webcast Academy and preparing for a pre-conference session on Web 2.0 to be held in Greensboro, NC the week after Thanksgiving. I have found many, many great uses for Web 2.0 tools for educators and most of these tools are free. The tools I will be using with participants include: blogs, wikis, google docs, Skype, Yugma, social bookmarking sites and others. I will be using a wiki to conduct my training and a blog for participant reflection. I created a spreadsheet on google docs that particpants will be editing and I have a couple of teachers around the country that will be skyping in during the session to share ways they use these same tools in their schools and districts. I’m excited about this conference session because participants will get hands on experience with these tools. My goal is that they find at least one to integrate into their classroom.