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This blog by Skype, offers teachers a great place to find various blogs by teachers about the use of Skype in their classroom. These collection of blogs help teachers find ideas for how to incorporate Skype into the classroom.

Skype in the classroom gives students and teachers a free and safe way to communicate with other students, educators, authors, or others who want to have input in the classroom!

I didn't know this existed! As Skype accounts are so prevalent, I could see as a teacher using this to Skype with a sister classroom somewhere else in the country (or world!) for project collaboration. Also it would be useful for interacting with an 'expert' in the field somewhere, using their desktop or smartphone Skype app. Other possibilities are Facetime, Google Hangout, and Zoom, but I believe Skype is the easiest one to configure.

Skype is a tool that allows people to talk in a way that is similar to face to face.  This tool could be used in the classroom to become connected with other classrooms around the world.  Students would have the opportunity to learn about other cultures firsthand.  

I think this is a very under-utilized resource in schools today, for both teachers and students. There is so much available on this website. The possibilities that these resources provide teachers are endless. One of my personal favorites that is on this site is Atomic Learning. This provides training resource videos in almost any technology tool you can think of. I have used this multiple times to help me out of a jam when using anything from Movie Maker, to to Excel, to Skype to iPads. The videos are chunked into short, searchable segments that are very useful when you are trying to learn anything about computers and what to do with them. This is a great resource to use in the classroom, both for personal (as a professional) use or for student use. Students are able to search videos independently and use them for assistance, contributing to self-reliance and independence in implementing classroom technology. I am not aware of any similar resources with a database this large, in one location. Although most websites or programs have instructions, sometimes even instructional videos, available to help new users understand the technology, Atomic Learning has them all in one place with easy to use videos that do a great job of demonstrating how to use the particular programs. apps, or instructional technology with your students.

I agree with Tamra and Maria that this is an under-utilized resources. I have introduced and stressed the importance of these databases to students, teachers and other staff for several years. It is too easy to just 'Google It.' I used Atomic Learning when teaching middle school technology explore. One of our 8th grade skills was an understanding of Word, and I let students pick their own topics to study further through Atomic Learning. I just used Gale for peer-reviewed journals. I am also using SIRS to find articles for our Digital Citizenship (Protect It) curriculum. I am not aware of any other collections for education as robust as Iowa AEA Online.

I love AEA Online. Being a former AEA employee, I've become very familiar with it over the years. Like the other ladies who commented before me, it is very underused. I'm not sure whether it's because people are not well enough familiarized with what they have to offer, or because it presents another opportunity for information overload. Regardless, it is a wonderful resource for students and teachers. I used Atomic Learning to help a teacher develop her own skills. I've also recommended it as a resource to our Special Education teachers as a resource to learn when students need reinforcement of new concepts.