Introducing Skype in the classroom
June 19th, 2008 Posted in Class Notes
This week I introduced Skype to the class. I had them get Skype names in the first week or two, but I didn’t tell them much about the software since I only wanted them to set up their account with names like their Second Life and Facebook names (I know, TOS violation). Anyway, today we actually got to use Skype in class. The students all logged in and had to add five other students as contacts. They had a ball calling each other and using conference chat. Next week we’re going to place some calls to the states. I was thinking of ordering a pizza and seeing if it could be delivered in 30 minutes ;-)…maybe not. In any case, they’ll call information to get a number, the local movie theater to get movie times, a hotel to get a room charge, and maybe even a restaurant to get their business hours. Do you think they should make a reservation and then call back to cancel it? Should be fun.
How to do it?
FIREWALL
No problem. I don’t know what will happen to future versions of Skype, but if you download Skype onto a USB stick and then drag it into your network folder at school where students can access it, you might be able to run. I can. I just can’t access Skypecasts for some reason.
To get your students going, have the group leaders come to your desk using your Skype Credited account to call information in America (1 - area code - 555 1212). Have them get the number for a hotel or restaurant and then call to ask a question or two. That’ll get them excited and start a buzz around school. Who knows, maybe administration will get wind of it.
Next step for me is to get six paid accounts (one for each group) so they can call on their own.
