EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

AND ACTION RESEARCH

Christa Knoell

QUICK PREVIEW Internet tool, Skype

What can it be used forAdvantagesWhat research has been doneRecent study on University students

What can be done to improve the learning experience

SKYPE Internet service that allows people to

communicate through video and voice.

663 million users as of September 2011

Owned by Microsoft

Skype to Skype users free of charge

Skype to landline/mobile phones charges to an account

SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM

For educators Connecting with other teachers

around the world Post ideas Useful because teachers are able

to get advise, learn about different teaching styles and can also connect with guest speakers.

Skype in the Classroom

50 AWESOME WAYS TO USE SKYPE IN THE CLASSROOM Explains and provides links

Resources for using SkypePromoting educationPromoting communitiesIdeas for parents and teachersOther useful websites

Useful because it gives great ideas to benefit students, parents, educators, and administrators.  

Awesome ways to use Skype

SOLES AND SOMES Self Organizing Learning Environments and

Self Organization Mediation Environments.Developed by Professor Sugata Mitra Program to allow children to learn with

technology and limited interactions with teachers Granny Cloud

Mediators talk or tell stories to students over Skype Useful because it gives students a wide

range of resources and allows them to be culturally educated in a personal way.

Soles and Somes

EXPERTS Sugata Mitra

 Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education and Communication and Language Sciences

Newcastle University, UK Research began in mid 1980’s

Wanted to know how children learned and how well they self-organized

Earlier work Hole in the wall experiments Provided students with digital resources Minimal Invasive methods

Soles and Somes

ONLINE DATA Skype vs. Telephone

YearBillions of

International minutes using

Skype

Billions of International

minutes using a telephone

2005 5 382006 6 342007 4 412008 11 322009 24 182010 45 17

ONLINE DATA According to TeleGeography more people are now

using Skype as their primary tool to communicate internationally.

ACTION RESEARCH Incorporate Skype into education.

Research question:How can Skype benefits education as a whole?

GOAL OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study was to examine what undergraduates at Arizona State University thought about the usage of Skype in multiple areas of education and if it was thought to be beneficial in a classroom setting.

COLLECTING THE DATA A survey was given to EDT 180 class

and consisted of 24 studentsAges ranging from 18 to 47The majority of the students were education

majors Only 23 responses was collected The survey contained 9 questions

regarding Skype

SURVEY QUESTION What source do you use and receive

most of your information from? i.e sports, news, entertainment

Results:

Internet Televison Books0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20Sources of Information

ANALYSIS 78% of the participants

answered internet as their primary source for gaining information.

This was to show that people have already integrated internet into their learning process so adding Skype would be an easy transition.

SURVEY QUESTION I think a video conference is the most

beneficial and successful method to have a parent teacher conference if the parent is unable to attend in person?

Results:

78%

22%

Video Parent/Teacher ConferenceAgree Disagree

ANALYSIS The majority of the students agreed that

a video conference program, such as Skype, would be the most beneficial

It would be beneficial to the student, parent, and teacher because a video conference is still very personal. It is also convenient for all parties because it may be done any place with a computer and internet access

SURVEY QUESTION If you are taking a Italian class and are

assigned an E-pal from Italy, on scale between 1 and 5 how beneficial would video conferences with the E-pal be?

Results:

Most beneficial

Beneficial

Undecided

Not very beneficial

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

E-Pals

ANALYSIS Out of the 23 participants 73.8%

said that an E-pal would be beneficial for a language learner

Allowing the use of Skype in a language class would make the learning experience much more personal and active for the learner

RESEARCH CONCLUSION After gathering all the information the

researched showed that Skype would have a great impact on education and would aid teachers and parents to become more involved

Schools across the district should integrate Skype into their curriculum

REVIEW Skype is a very valuable tool Education majors support Skype

being used in the classroom Skype can change the way students

learn and lead it into a positive direction

Major research is in progressSugata Mitra

This district can be the next pioneers

CALL TO ACTION Encourage all educators to assimilate

Skype into their lesson plans Provide Skype seminar for educators

to learn how to incorporate into their teaching

Provide valuable resource for beginners using Skype

Provide outlets for feedback on using Skype in the classroom