Let's Skype

[Heather]

I have been brainstorming ways we could Skype with schools around the world. I really want to have our kids here at our elementary school (K-4) in Oregon, WI see other libraries, hear others read books, share book talks with different grade levels etc.

[Jo-Anne Gibson]

Heather,
I just proposed using Skype in my school to "bring in" an author to our school. Unfortunately our school division does not support the use of Skype and I think it's a shame. I'd be interested to know whether Skype is used in other school divisions or districts.

Jo-Anne

[Heather]

Jo-Anne,

Why is the school not allowing Skype as a way to communicate? I am interested in their reasoning.

Heather

[Jo-Anne Gibson]

Heather,
Who knows the school division's reasoning for blocking Skype. They block all Ning's too and any social networking site.

[Julianne Kaye]

I have never used skype personally but I have seen it use in a conference. I would love to try to skype with someon to see how it works.

[Heather]

Thanks Julianne for your reply,
Do you have skype capabilities at home? Download it if you have a webcam or could borrow one from school and then we could try it first from home so you could test it. One of our first gr. classes used Skype to communicate with a class in Georgia last Friday. It was wonderful. Each class talked a little bit about their state and then had questions to ask. The kids were sooo cute!! They were fascinated by the amount of snow we have and we were fascinated about the fact that they do not get recess time. Our kids couldn't believe that! Anyway, let me know if you want to test skype and I will give you my skype name.
Thank again,
Heather

[Nancy Buchholz]

I work at a preK-8 independent school. Some of the teachers have actually been learning how to use elluminate so that they can "go global". Huge waste of money if you ask me. They have yet to figure out who to communicate with. I actually think that using skype makes a lot more sense since it's free and international. I'd love to know what others are doing too. I love the idea of the author visit via Skype it's too bad there are school districts that don't support it.

Nancy

[Heather]

Thanks Nancy for your reply,

I am not sure if you can read all of the replies because I am new at this NING thing but I was telling Julianne Kaye (another person that responded to the skype discussion) that one of our 1st gr. classes did some research on Georgia, the basic info., and then one of our tech teachers set a date to talk with another 1st gr. class in Georgia. Through skype they were able to share information about the two different states, Georgia and WI. It was so much fun and the kids loved it!! Something they will never forget. That is when I got to thinking, how could I use this in the library? Can I ask you what elluminate is? I have never heard of that.

Thanks,
Heather

[Nancy Buchholz]

Hi Heather,
Elluminate is a web conferencing tool. It allows you to not only video conference but also to share applications. You can create virtual classrooms with it too. It's used a lot in higher ed. At the moment my school is using it solely for video conferencing. Just like we can use Skype. Personally, I think it is overkill in my school's situation but I wasn't around when they decided that buying it was a good idea.
Like you I would be interested in using Skype somehow in the library. I think author visits might be worth a look for sure.

Nancy

[Mike Artell]

I'm a children's book author/illustrator and cartoonist. Each year, I visit with more than 13,000 kids at 50+ schools across the US and the traveling, hotel rooms and rental cars are all getting old...and so am I!! Ha!

I'm very interested in using Skype to do "live video author visits." I haven't done it yet, but I'm pretty sure I could hold up some of my books and talk about them and then I could answer questions from the kids. Also, I could have an easel and a large pad beside me and I could give the kids step-by-step instructions for drawing their own cartoons (I used to have a TV cartooning show on Saturday mornining).

When I visit schools, I charge $1200 for three presentations, plus travel, lodging and meal expenses but I'd be willing to do a few "freebies" for a limited number of schools interested in seeing if the concept works with Skype.

If you're interested, email me at [e-mail] or visit my web site: www.mikeartell.com .

Quick postscript: I am not "soliciting" business. I've got more requests for school visits than I can handle. All I'm interested in finding out is if the "Skype video author visit" is a viable concept.

[Erika]

Not sure whats so special about Skype. Yahoo Messenger can also do what Skype can do. Yahoo! Voice in fact can also make landline calls. I use Yahoo for all my chats and pc to pc calls. For my paid voip service I use Onesuite SuiteAdvantage with cheap rates. No need/use for Skype for me.

[Heather]

Does Yahoo! Voice also include video?

[Erika]

You can use the regular Yahoo Messenger for video conferencing. Sorry for replying 1 year late as I already forget about this site. It so happen I'm cleaning up my email and saw an email from this site.