What was really impressive was that the students’ willingness to be connected back into our class when they are at home feeling crummy. They want to participate, they want to stay in touch, they want to continue to learn and aren’t letting the flu get in their way.I think this is a nice use of Skype, and I'm sure many other teachers are doing similar things. I know other folks have said this, but I wonder if this outbreak turns even more serious with lots of absences or school closures, if that might accelerate how quickly schools start to move more of their instruction online (in some shape or form). Could H1N1 end up being a tipping point?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
H1N1, Skype, and a Possible Tipping Point
Anne Smith has a nice post up about how she has students who are home sick Skyping into class in order to stay connected.
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We just left a faculty meeting this minute where a good portion of the time spent was discussing just this scenario. We are being asked to generate non-time-sensitive lessons and materials for up to five days of missed school in order to avoid having to make the school days up and therefore spending more money to keep the schools open longer. I am sure that some will be resistant and others will jump right in depending on their comfort level with the technology.
ReplyDelete@Mr Guidetti - Yeah, I know lots of districts are thinking about this, and attendance/funding certainly plays a role. I think the hard thing is going to be how to make these meaningful, relevant, worthwhile lessons because - unfortunately - I think the easiest things to transfer online are often also the least effective, low-level thinking lessons. Doing this well is probably going to take more time, planning and resources than most folks might be willing to give to it.
ReplyDeleteWow I think that that is an amazing idea to use Skype as a tool to be connected to the classroom. I also think that it is great that there are actually students who are willing to do this even though as you said are "feeling crummy". This is really encouraging to see and I hope it continues.
ReplyDeleteWe have a ning site. Kids at home join the chat during class. Don't seem to miss a beat.
ReplyDeleteLike you are saying...coolest thing is that it wasn't my idea. They just started joining in on their own when they were home.
That's really cool that student's were willing to do that. I use Skype a lot just to talk to friends, and I can see it easily being integrated into the classroom. It's also a definite way to keep kids from faking sick to get out of something, just tell them they can join in on Skype!
ReplyDeleteI think that H1N1 is the greatest thing that has ever happened for technology. Our school has been quite resistant to creating individual webpages for teachers/classes. This year we transfered the entire old website (not much) to a new format (server,etc) and created a new webpage for every teacher in the building. The district's idea for this was to get teachers to use the site to post information about their classes. This met with some resistance, until the district told the teachers that each building must come up with a plan to stop sick students from entering the building. Our building's plan - ask all teachers to begin their website, post work there and keep it updated. The result - 85% of our staff are now online!!! Never could this have been achieved by simply asking.
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