Video Conferencing is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two way video and audio transmission simultaneously. It is a bit different than videophone calls in that it can reach multiple individuals rather than two. It can connect people across the globe instantly and
While reading the different threads on Classroom 2.0 about Video Conferencing, I was immediately drawn to the set backs and concerns different educators had. One example is how an Educator is concerned that her students and herself may have trouble communicating over video conferencing due to their heavy southern accents. She foresees this being a problem but offers the solution of searching for others to test her theory and also searching out of the country for educators with different language accents. Through my own personal experiences communicating with my family and friends down under (Australia) I have had no issues with language barriers or diction misconstruing our conversations.
Another Educator created a tool that aides Educators in Video Conferencing called Edu-Skyper’s Phone Book. This is an international database of educators who want to connect via the tool Skype, which is a free video conferencing service that millions worldwide use. After signing up and giving your information, Educators worldwide can contact you and share and teach new ideas to use in and out of the classroom, you can search by age of students you teach, the subject you teach, or what you wish to Skype about. It is an extremely useful tool to keep connected.
Another benefit for Video Conferencing is for students who are sick or have an illness. Through video conferencing, a student cannot only in theory attend class via the Internet, but also interact and respond to the lesson plan. For example, a mother posted on the thread I was following on Classroom 2.0 that she has a medically fragile daughter. She can be put in the hospital due to even just a simple cold and the mother is trying to find a solution to get her daughter educated AND interact with students. Home school is an option but in this case, the mother does not want her daughter to live her education years in solitude but interact with her peers. I feel this is a great tool for situations such as this; it enables students with physically and mentally challenging disorders to lead as normal of a life as possible.
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I think that video conferencing is a great tool that teachers should utilize. I think it is great when students are sick and they can still get to participate in lectures and such.
ReplyDeleteVideo conferencing seems like a really good and useful tool! In my opinion, I do not feel accents would be a problem. This is a really good way to get students engaged, and like Katie said, for those who are sick, they are still able to participate in lectures!
ReplyDeleteVideo Conferencing Software is helping us in many way. Like if we get late to join in a conference. We can record it and use it for our future references. And the students from some interior places has no any good references can be facilitate by getting good suggestions from experts through Video Conferencing Solutions.
ReplyDelete