Friday, April 9, 2010

Skype Hype

Skype is a convenient, revolutionary, widely used tool of communication. If I were to imagine a scenario in which Skype would be useful, I would go back in time to my biology class during sophomore year of high school. We had a very cool opportunity to watch an open heart surgery live from a hospital in Chicago. The mechanism through which we communicated with the surgeons was not as interactive as Skype would have allowed it to be.

Instead of the surgeons just hearing our voices while we asked questions, they would have been able to see our faces, allowing for a better conversation. The streaming speed and video quality would also be much better. In general, having the ability to view a surgery via Skype is a great learning tool in the sense that anatomy and physiology can be observed in action. However, nothing compares to actually being in the operating room. Skype wouldn't be able to capture all of the elements of experience, but it is a sufficient, cost-effective method of communication and teaching.


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3 comments:

  1. Michelle WalkerApril 9, 2010 at 7:17 PM

    This is a very interesting way to use Skype! There are many videos teachers could show that might explore the heart, but being able to ask questions and communicate with the surgeons is also a great benefit. I think it would also help students to understand what is going on throughout the whole operating room rather than just with the doctor performing incisions. It is somewhat scary to me to think that a surgeon may be more focused on setting up their Skype webcam to capture the video from the best angle rather than performing the surgery! I doubt this was the scenario though, and it sounds like a cool experience.

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  2. UnknownApril 9, 2010 at 8:29 PM

    What you describe is one of the most creative uses of VOIP I have ever heard of. I could well imagine medical students using similar methods to watch surgeries in the future. This way, students could watch exponentially more surgeons working in professional environments.

    Another potential benefit of this type of surgery is that it can be shown to a multitude of people at the same time. Normally, only a limited amount of people could watch a live surgery.

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  3. Michael BalkeApril 11, 2010 at 3:16 PM

    That is such a phenomenal idea. When I thought of implementing Skype into the classroom all I ever thought about was using it to connect to the other students and teacher. Using Skype to take part in an educational experience such a surgery remotely is such a cool and exciting idea. I wish our AP Bio class did that. That would have been real treat to do that.

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