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I'm a so-so fan of Skype. I've used it on an infrequent basis and have had more than a few dropped calls. Audio and video alike. However, it's a cheap way to make long distance calls and seems to work better over wi-fi and the video quality is improving on a regular basis. So therefore it's probably a great tool for the classroom. But how can you use Skype to do more than just make calls? Well, there's a pantload of interesting ways! Check out these fun ideas: Collaborate! Meet with other classrooms: One of the most common projects educators utilize Skype for is setting up exchanges with classrooms around the world, usually for cultural exchange purposes or working together on a common assignment. The program's official site provides some great opportunities to meet up with like-minded teachers and students sharing the same goals. Practice a foreign language: Connect with individual learners or classrooms hailing from a different native tongue can use a Skype collaboration to sharpen grammar and pronunciation skills through conversation. Peace One Day: Far beyond classroom collaborations, the Peace One Day initiative teamed up with Skype itself and educators across the globe to teach kids about the importance of ending violence, war, and other social ills. Around the World with 80 Schools: This challenge asks participating schools to hook up with 80 worldwide and report back what all they've learned about other cultures and languages. Talk about the weather: One popular Skype project sees participants from different regions make note of the weather patterns for a specified period of time, with students comparing and contrasting the results. Collaborative poetry: In this assignment, connected classrooms pen poetic pieces together and share them via video conferencing. Practice interviews: The education system frequently receives criticism for its failure to prepare students for the real world, but using Skype to help them run through mock-up

Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds: Strategies for Online Instruction Clark Aldrich 1 Resenha John Wiley & Sons, 02/10/2009 - 144 páginas Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds Strategies for Online Instruction Clark Aldrich Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds The infusion of games, simulations, and virtual worlds into online learning can be a transforming experience for both the instructor and the student. This practical guide, written by education game expert Clark Aldrich, shows faculty members and instructional designers how to identify opportunities for building games, simulations, and virtual environments into the curriculum; how to successfully incorporate these interactive environments to enhance student learning; and how to measure the learning outcomes. It also discusses how to build institutional support for using and financing more complex simulations. The book includes frameworks, tips, case studies and other real examples, and resources. Praise for Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds "Clark Aldrich provides powerful insights into the dynamic arena of games, simulations, and virtual worlds in a simultaneously entertaining and serious manner as only he can. If you are involved with educating anyone, from your own children to classrooms full of students, you need to devour this book." -- Karl Kapp, assistant director, Institute for Interactive Technologies, Bloomsburg University "At a time when the technologies for e-learning are evolving faster than most people can follow, Aldrich successfully bridges the perceptual gap between virtual worlds, digital games, and educational simulations, and provides educators with all they really need to use this technology to enhance and enrich their e-learning experiences." -- Katrin Becker, instructor, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Mount R

Top 10 Free Online Tutoring Tools for 2012 Topics: education, free tools, guest, technology, technology for tutoring, tutoring resources, tutoring tools inShare Share 462 The Internet provides a wealth of resources for teachers, tutors, and students to go well beyond classroom learning. Whether you're a teacher preparing for tomorrow's lecture, a professional tutor working with one or two students, or you just want to help your cousin in Alabama with some trig homework, these free tools will help you interact with your student(s) sans the confines of the classroom. Skype with Idroo Idroo is an online educational whiteboard used in combination with Skype. Use it with as many students or fellow teachers as you want for tutoring sessions or meetings, as the whiteboard's "only limitations" are Internet connection speed and how fast everyone involved absorbs the material. All writing and drawing done on the whiteboard is visible to participants in real time, making it a true virtual classroom. It also allows for remote math tutoring with its professional math typing tool. Gchat Anyone with a gmail account can access Gchat. Teachers, tutors, and students can talk to one another in real time, as well as send and receive files instantly. Save chats for referral purposes in your gmail account, or download the Google Talk application for voice conferencing with multiple parties. WizIQ Teachers, students and organizations can create free accounts on WizIQ, another online education portal. Students have the option to attend online classes, download free tutorials, use free practice tests, or find teachers with certain expertise. Online classes are not free, however. Teachers and organizations can offer recorded classes through WizIQ or those in real time, create online tests, use live audio and video chat, and distribute course work in any standard format. Teachers must pay per month for this service, though WizIQ offers easy teacher payment collection from stu

"The increase came primarily at the expense of instructor-led classroom training (ILT). Although ILT remained the dominant delivery method (accounting for 60% of training hours delivered), its use has declined. Some ILT hours have been replaced with virtual classroom training (VILT), which uses a live, remote instructor broadcast online or over video. Virtual classrooms maintain the benefit of live instruction, while avoiding the costs associated with travel and facilities. Use of VILT increased to 13% of training hours delivered in 2009. "

Keep your class motivated with this is behaviour management tool where teachers can award virtual badges for anything. Choose from a large collection of badge designs. The children can see their progress with their own personal login. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Management+%26+Rewards

My argument then is that the conventional LMS is the wrong metaphor, not just the wrong technology, for engaging with some of the changes we are seeing that we might cluster under the web 2.0 banner. I am in the position of being able to quote myself, so I'll let M Weller sum it up: I would suggest that the reason the centralised LMS is not the answer to the 'web 2.0 problem' for education is because in its software DNA it embodies the wrong metaphor. It seeks to realise the principles of hierarchy, control and centralisation - the traditional classroom made virtual. This approach won't help educators understand the new challenges and opportunities they are now facing.

The 5th Plymouth e-Learning Conference will examine the theme of e-learning in a time of change, and will challenge notions of traditional boundaries, learning spaces and roles. We will focus on new practices, new technologies, new environments and new learning. There will be primary, secondary and tertiary education threads. We invite papers on the digital divide, e-learning methods and case studies, mobile and pervasive technologies, digital games, multi-user virtual environments, informal learning, new classroom technologies (PDAs interactive whiteboards, etc), personal learning environments, visual media (videoconference, digital photography), e-portfolios and social software (wikis, blogs, podcasting, etc).

"Virtual Assistants have been with us for a while and many of us have had experiences similar to the dialogue above. However, they are getting better and becoming more of an assistant than a hindrance. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have voice activated assistance. I've used them all at different times for my personal use, especially Google Now, but Amazon's Alexa assistant is the only one I've used in the classroom via an Amazon echo. Many of the following ideas can be done on any of the above assistants, but I will focus on Amazon's Alexa."

The pandemic has forced organizations to turn digital in their training implementations. This has opened up a plethora of options to create a good learning experience. Many are turning to virtual training in place of classroom training. However, many are taking this period as an opportunity to go completely digital and reduce dependence on trainers, at least for the ones who are at the first three levels of Bloom's learning paradigm, namely, remembering (awareness), understanding, and applying concepts.

Converting instructor-led training into virtual learning content is an effective strategy to develop and deliver quality online learning experiences.

Going out of school and learning in the real world can provide some of the most rich and valuable learning experiences. But when this is not possible, this site provides teachers with a directory of virtual school trips to fascinating places through Google Hangouts. Join educators across the world and your children may even talk directly to experts. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Excellent & up to date directory of synchronous E-Learning tools for screen share, web conf., etc. http://bit.ly/3qetCP via @C4LPT

Excellent listing of synchronous tools!

Collaborative web conferencing environment enabling synchronous communication using video and audio or through text chat, and to share presentations, documents and images on an interactive whiteboard.