Thursday, April 28, 2011
Pinar
I agree with you Youtube being inappropriate sometimes. For example you may search for a cartoon character and many weird things up under that search. Some having nothing to do with it. There are not many suitable videos on Youtube either. However, Teachertube makes a little bit more sense to use in a classroom setting.
Skype in Classrooms?
As I was wondering which topic should I have picked, I have seen this interesting topic. “Skype in Schools” is something new that is being discovered. Skype alone is something new to everyone.
I feel that once the teachers get the needed training in technology, our students will be prepared for the global economy in future. While ago, when I attended a field trip a teacher spoke about the use of Skype in her classroom. By then I didn’t know much about Skype myself. I have recently started to use it. She had mentioned to me that when they were studying seasons, she Skyped with another classroom in New York where there was snow. For children who lived here and never seen snow, it was a great experience. The discussion was based on to figure out if we should use it or not. In relation, Miguel also wanted to find out why yes or no to Skype. Some teachers replied as planning to use it. Some states said no, because it was blocked such as Texas. The teachers also commented as they were hoping for a change so that they can use it.
On the research that I have done about the "Skype use in classrooms", I have read many opinions and thoughts over the world. There was one that was written in Turkey. Since I am Turkish myself, I found the journal to be very interesting.
"The rapid growth of the Internet, the global collection of interconnected computer networks, is both stimulative and instructive. The Internet has become one of the most powerful resources in accessing information. It is used for entertainment, sharing items, collecting and analyzing data, conducting interviews, chatting, downloading, and so on as well as education. Among the users of the internet, there are the educational researchers who try to enhance exploring of this rich resource. Using the Internet in language teaching has been practiced for a while. Exploiting videoconferencing for teaching the language online, on the other hand, is relatively a new and exciting innovation in education. Using such tools as the Skype or Msn allows people or groups of individuals to see each other and talk to one another over the internet without a long distance telephone charge as well. It is almost inevitable to ignore the necessity of the Internet in educating the new generation who utilize it in every aspect of their life. In other words, technology lets us teach all the four skills –reading, writing, listening and speaking- simultaneous" as the journal says by Dr. Songül KILIMCI.
As an education major student, I can see the use of Skype in classrooms in a positive, encouraging and fun. It can be useful for those students that miss school for extended days, for those students who are abroad, and for those parents who can conference with their child to see their report cards or to conference with the teacher about the child. It can be very useful and convenient for students, teachers, and parents.
Resources:
http://upd.sagepub.com/content/28/1/17.full.pdf+html
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