Alrighty! This is a follow up to the first post sharing my adventures in facilitating Skype with two classes. If you want to learn more about how we set up the session, read more here! Do you like the photo to the left? I
Overview
This was an invaluable experience for us! The students were so excited and impressed that the other class met with them. They practiced really hard and both classes were on time, the cooperating teacher was enthusiastic and had great organization with her classes. We could not have had a better experience. I thought I’d share some things that made it awesome!
Things that made it awesome…
Participation! Students on both sides of the Skype connection had “tasks” they were responsible for. We took the time for the students to introduce themselves and they responded really well to that. Both classes shared books they cared about and were really excited about that!
Enthusiasm! The students were genuinely pumped to be sharing the books and meeting the class. Period.
Big Books! We used big books, like those REALLY big ones you only thought the teacher could use. They showed up on the camera and it was easy for them to hold them. I thought maybe the high school kids would think they were silly, but not so.
Interaction! The more planned interactive activities we had, the more excited the students seemed to get. One of the classes performed a sort of “camp” story with hand motions that were easy to follow. It was cool to see the high schoolers play along 
Notes to self for next time…
For some reason my computer would not connect to the super, mega huge TV screen in the teacher’s classroom for the first presentation. This would have been helpful especially if the class on my end was bigger. We’ll need to get that figured out. Also, we need nice speakers connected not just the computer speakers. We started to get feedback once the sound was turned on if ours was up too high. We fixed this for the next class and it was a huge improvement!
Other reflections and ramblings…
I worked on one of the first videoconferencing projects that used Flash a LONG time ago. We had 5 classes meeting NASA scientists and the San Francisco Art Institute working together to create a project. Macromedia was the first to create videoconferencing that wasn’t constantly having to rebuff and run down your bandwidth. Remember back in the day where there was a room that was designated for videoconferencing? So long to those days. Anyways, all I can think of is how overzealous this project was then! It’d be a HUGE project now even. Baby steps…
I can’t see wait to see what the next projects involve! Our Library Breakfast Club is still looking for a class to collaborate with. If this sounds like something you’re in to, let me know!
photo credit: Peter Kaminski via photopin cc
