Skype in the Classroom

Of all of my current classes, I could most feasibly see Skype being used in my astronomy lecture. Especially at a large research university like the University of Michigan, some of our professors are pretty important people who sometimes have to miss class for more important things. My astronomy professor is a perfect example of this. Earlier in the semester, he had to miss a few lectures while in a conference in Tokyo. He had a graduate student of his fill in to do lecture for us. While the lectures weren't awful, I felt like it would have been better for us if our actual professor could have delivered them to us. I think Skype could have offered a solution to this. We certainly have the technology that we could have projected his image on the screen and amplified the audio loud enough for everyone to hear. Also, we once had a guest lecturer in the same class because she was better suited to teach the information we were learning. By using Skype, we could more easily have guest lecturers from around the world, not being limited to just those at this university or who are willing to travel potentially long distances to get here.

There are, however, some potential negatives. For one, technological difficulties are by no means rarities in the classroom. Once I had a class cancelled because the webpage containing our assignment for the day wouldn't open. Suppose we had been planning on a Skype lecture, and the signal was consistently lost or there was some other technological malfunction. In this case, a substitute what have done much better than a missed lecture. Also, there seem to be some benefits of face-to-face lectures that even Skype could not fulfill. For example, it would be quite a process if every student with a question had to go up to the computer in the front of a lecture hall to ask them. Also, it would be difficult for the professor to share drawings with us that are typically done on a chalkboard. These are crucial for students who learn visually. Also, I'm no technology whiz, but I'm not sure that a professor would be able to operate a powerpoint presentation from where they are to display in our classroom. This is something we rely heavily on today.