This week, I am going to be reflecting on what I’ve learned so far into this course, and what tools/platforms I really learned a lot from.
One thing that I know I really enjoyed were the lessons from the Microsoft Educator Community. I really enjoyed the two lessons I completed so far. Recently, I’ve completed the Introduction to Skype in the Classroom lesson and I learned so many things that I did not know I could do with Skype.
Through this lesson, I found 5 different ways I can incorporate Skype into the classroom.
1. Virtual Field Trips
With virtual field trips, we can give our students a real-life experience that could potentially enhance their learning to that specific area. Instead of reading about that place from a textbook or having them look up that place on the internet, we can give them a real-time experience using Skype. This way, they can see with their own eyes what that place really is like live instead of pre-recorded.
2. Skype Lessons
With Skype lessons, our students can learn about a topic or country through a video that accurately shows and explains what that topic is. The great thing about Skype Lessons is that you can easily find what lesson you are looking for with the filter button. You can filter by age groups, subjects, countries, languages, etc. Skype makes it easy and simple to look for topics so anyone can understand how to use it.
3. Skype Collaboration
Skype Collaboration might be one of the best tools that I have discovered. With this tool, we can connect and collaborate with different classrooms and work together on different projects. This can give our students to exposure on what it is like to connect with other people and also receive a different perspective other than their own.
4. Mystery Skype
Mystery Skype is a game where two classrooms play a game where they each guess the location of the other classroom by asking questions. This is a great tool for teachers to use for their students because it gives them a great opportunity to learn about what the environment of the other classroom is like and expose the students on the different culture of the other country.
5. Guest Speakers
Skype is a great tool for teachers to incorporate what it is like to speak to an expert about that particular subject. By connecting with experts that know about that particular field (vet, musician, lawyers, etc.), students can receive real information.
I can definitely say that the Microsoft Educators Community lessons are my favorite assignments from all the other ones. I find myself not only learning a lot of valuable lessons, but I also enjoy watching the videos and reading the different charts and description of each part of the lesson.
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