Video conferencing anyone

I am interested in working with another elementary school to do a little video conferencing. We currently have a webcam and are able to use Skype or other free Internet based video conferencing tools. I teach technology in 1st through 5th grade. We would love to try a little collaborative sharing. Ideas: (discussing a book, sharing about our school and our town, geography of our area, etc.) Other ideas would be welcome since this is our first venture into the world of video conferencing.

Look forward to hearing from other elementary school teachers who would like to try it out with us.

Tags: conferencing, video

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Permalink Reply by Marvin Lee on March 15, 2008 at 9:08pm

I teach gifted 2-5 in Oklahoma City. I have done some video conferencing with Skype, and would be interested in doing more. It would be great to be able to somehow put together a list of Skype teachers throughout the country ( and world). I have skyped with classrooms overseas with great success!

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Permalink Reply by Terry Smith on March 16, 2008 at 12:49am

Hello - we (grade 4) do scheduled conferences and accept impromptu incoming calls as well. We generally do specific planned sessions instead of general sharing - lots more productive and interesting. Cal us sometime and we can see what we have to share with each other! Terry -- skype: smithclass.

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Permalink Reply by Marvin Lee on March 16, 2008 at 7:20am

We will do that! That gives me an interesting thought.....we could be right in the middle of an activity, and want an opinion from an outside source...."Let's see what smithclass thinks." We Skype you and pick your brains a bit, then go back to our activity. It could really be a great way to work. Noiw, if we had 30, 50, or 100 classes to choose from at any given time! We might be discussing New England.....who better to get a viewpoint from than a classroom in New England! ....or we might just want to take a poll....call a bunch of 'em. We might just want to know today's weather in other parts of the world....an interesting graphing opportunity right there. So many different ways to use the impromtu skype. Let's start compiling a list of classrooms. You're first on my list.....actually 3rd or 4th, but it's a start. What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by James E. Schwartz on March 16, 2008 at 10:14am

It might be interesting to connect classrooms in different parts of the world this week for the days surrounding the vernal equinox. On Monday, a question for discussion and comparison could be, "What time is sunrise and sunset for YOU today?" How many hours of daylight do you have today?This could be followed up with the same questions on Thursday (first day of spring in the northern hemisphere). Then this could be followed up in a week or so with the same questions. From the data, the teachers could reasonably be able to ask the children to conjecture as to what the meaning of the "first day of spring" really is.

Of course, this could all be done without VIDEOconferencing, but it would be an interesting use of videoconferencing, in my opinion.

JS

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Nelson on March 18, 2008 at 7:16pm

Very interesting concept. In our schools it might be challenge for the equipment is a shared resource located in the library-media center. This type of directory however might be a catalyst to get more tools into the classrooms. What kind of format would you suggest for such a directory? Would not mind taking the first steps in developing a New York State Director for starter.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Allen on March 16, 2008 at 8:27pm

I have offered to all of my elementary buildings to see if anyone is interested. We are on Spring Break this coming week, so it will be a long time to remember :). Hopefully we'll get some feedback next week.
We've used Skype and AOL/Mac account for different reasons. Skype can be a little annoying with our filter system, but I think the "smarter" people were working to fix that issue.

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Permalink Reply by Utz Classen on March 17, 2008 at 3:20am

Just take al look at yahoo life, its simple and easy.
http://live.yahoo.com/

Utz

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Permalink Reply by karenklieg on March 18, 2008 at 4:06am

Sharon,
I have skyped with another teacher from SC - do you know her -JoNelle? We are doing a project on explorers with our 4th grade classes - interested in collaborating? Or a book discussion would be fine, too. You and I could skype to set a collaboration up on a book we choose, if you are interested! Contact me if you are interested. kkliegman@gmail.com

Karen

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Permalink Reply by Dave Grewal on March 20, 2008 at 1:10am

It seems everyone is using Skype and i'm not sure why. I mean it is easy to use and is something everyone has but I have an onine virtual classroom platform called "WiZiQ" that is specially designed for this type of conferencing.

WiZiQ does not require download or installation. It is free meaning absolutely no cost. You can upload and share content live online with as many people as you wish. Audio and Video can be granted to all or limited to a few.

To me Skype is really for audio conversations where WiZiQ is more for teaching and sharing content. I ask those interested to please give it a try here

Cheers!
Dave

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Permalink Reply by Sharon Neff on March 26, 2008 at 4:52pm

I created a wiki called "Skyping Teachers of the World" It is a private wiki, but I can send out an invitation to anyone who would like to add their Skype information to it. If you shoot me an email at the email address below I will send out an invitation to you to. Then you can add your Skype information etc. to the wiki in a kind of informal database. It would allow those of us interested in video conferencing to put our Skype information on a private wik that can be view by others who are interested in video conferencing.
Here is my school email address: neffs@fort-mill.k12.sc.us Just send me an email and I will send you an invitation so that you can add your information to others on the wiki. It is just an idea and it may or may not work, but we can give it a try.