The only setback is the different time zones; places such as Germany are 6 hours ahead of the US and this process can be inconvenient for both parties involved if the time zones are too extreme. I know that my friend complained that here class was at 9:00pm. But other than the time-lag itself, Skype offers many opportunities for people to communicate oversees with interesting individuals who cannot visit the educational facility personally.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Skype In Classroom
Skype has the potential to provide a lot of educational and learning opportunities in the classroom. Schools and educational institutions have already begun to use this great program in their own classrooms. One method of using Skype beneficially is by using it to call people oversees or far away. Representatives cannot always visit certain schools personally but could rely on this tool to still give a presentation or host a forum. My friend has a class that does just that. Once a week they meet and use Skype to VOIP a certain person who lives far away. They have communicated with people from China and different parts of China using this method and have gotten great benefits from the telecommunications.
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I never even considered the time zone difference until I read your post. It seems like such an obvious limit, but I always think of the convenience and benefits of Skype so it was easily overlooked for me. It's interesting that you have a friend with a class that uses Skype. Such classes may be minimal now, but what will happen when this becomes the norm? Will the educational experience become less personalized? Will people be okay with spending thousands on tuition just to learn via video chat? It will be interesting indeed.
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ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of calling people who live overseas by using the Skype. I think this is the major benefit Skype offers to the users. It's convenient, easy to use, and also free. The time zone difference is certainly one of the limitations of using Skype that users have to take into consideration.
ReplyDeleteI also mentioned the potential use of Skype to communicate with people whom it would be impossible to meet in person. The potential uses of Skype are very broad and far reaching. Even outside the classroom I have used Skype to communicate overseas, to a friend of mine who lives in Germany. Despite the 6hr time difference, Skype makes communicating easy. Also, it saves us from having to buy long distance phone cards.
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