Invite Experts Across Country to Your Classroom

From Richard Byrne, Skype in the Classroom features some great ideas on how you can bring experts to your students via video conferencing with Skype.  They also allow you to connect with other classrooms and teachers who are interested in collaborating.  Listed in each content category are listings of teachers looking for interested classroom connections.

For instance, just posted Feb 1st, Mr Doktor's urban Middle School Geography classroom is looking to discuss physical, cultural, and socioeconomic differences with another classroom; as well as being involved in a service learning project.

Video conferencing (or Distance Learning) is an amazing way to bring in outside visitors and experts in their field to your students.  Not only can it be FREE (some organizations do charge fees), but it is an exciting and engaging way for students to interact with these visiting experts.

Richard Byrne's example demonstrates Yellowstone National Park's Parkranger, Beth Tyler, who offers to visit classrooms via Skype.  Check out the video on his post from a classroom in Maine.  Skype in the Classroom offers many examples of how you can do this, however, video conferencing can be a simple as contacting a professor of your (our) local university or college and have them discuss material relevant to your unit lessons.  Contact a Geology professor for classroom discussions on strata or volcanoes.

Our school system has Tandberg service available with a long list of contacts and schools in our state system that can be contacted for FREE.  Collaborate with another classroom in another part of our state on a project.

Here are some more great video conferencing ideas from Mashable.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions concerning video conferencing and opptions.

A word of advice:  when searching for good video conferencing content, not all organizations offer FREE video conferencing.  Unfortunately, though they look education-friendly, they are out to make a buck as well.  Sometimes you have to get creative or dig a little deeper; that can go for anything, can't it.