[DDN] An incredible Web 2.0 Experience

[John Brakeman]

Thank you for your story.  This is truly one of the great ways that
technology/web2.0 can allow us to stay connected and serve a greater
purpose than say shopping online.  I'm duly intrigued because I too
had an experience like this.  The only difference is that it was at a
graduate level and the student who needed to be connected was me.

I learned about Skype from a graduate friend right around the time I
was admitted to the hospital for a sudden medical complication.  I was
fearful that I would miss one of my graduate classes, so I proposed
the idea of Skype to my professor.  She was totally willing to try
this, even though she had never done it before.  The only thing they
had to was get a camera (they were able to do this).  I already had
one on my portable Mac. I signed up for Skype and so did they.  We
exchanged web phone addresses and prayed that everything would work
out perfectly.

The connection went off better than expected with only a few minor
issues.  Not everyone was connected to audio and as a result a
microphone needed to be passed around, so that I could hear the
content of the class and student shares.  The camera that they were
using had some delay issues and it was difficult to keep mounted to
get the whole class in view.  Despite these very correctable problems,
I enjoyed being able to be a part of the class just as much as they
loved exploring and employing the new technology.

I plan on using this same technology with an inter-cultural global
project that I'm am planning with a school in the Netherlands.  Thank
you for your email.

John Brakeman
Fairfield University

On 4/1/07, Elderbob <elderbob at gmail.com> wrote:
> Last week, I had a wonderful experience that I think represents one of the
> really useful ways that Skype is being used in the classroom.  Perhaps it
> goes a long way in saying something about Web 2.0 and how it enhances our
> community.
>
> Brian Crosby and his Nevada class of 4th graders include a student whose
> medical condition precludes her from attending regular classroom
> activities.  So with a little leg-work and hand-shaking, Brian got some
> community members to provide a home link-up for the child who can't attend.
> The story of how it was done and what the class is doing got my attention
> and I wanted to learn more.  I contacted him, and having talked it over with
> his class, they agreed to be interviewed by Lee Babers 8th class in Virginia
> who man the webcasts at YouthBridges (the student version of WorldBridges).
>
> WIth a bit of thought and collaboration, we finally succeeded in connecting
> all the dots, and met last Thursday via Skype.  There were a number of
> connection and production problems but under it all was a humane interest in
> how one class continued to include a student that otherwise would have been
> disconnected.  This was truly a "No Child Left Behind Story".
>
> In the end, I was able to edit out most of the technical glitches which
> eventually resulted in a 21 minute interview of one class by the other.  The
> story is greater than that, and I have tried to piece together most of it in
> a blog post.  You can see any one of three versions of the story among the
> blogs below:
>
> Eldertown - http://eldertown.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/the-spark-that-drives-web-20-technology-in-the-classroom/#more-109
>
>
> Knowplace Blog – http://knowplace.ca/blog
>
> (These first two blogs are both my contributions and are essentially the
> same.)
>
> Learning is Messy Blog - http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=233
>
> (This is Brian Crosby's Sparks, Nevada Blog)
>
> YouthBridges - http://youthbridges.net/?q=node/35
>
> (and this is Lee Baber's Virginia YouthBridges edition)
>
> These kids would love it if you would post your thoughts to the various
> blogs (and I would too).
> Be sure to watch the videos, one was produced by the 4th grade class and the
> other is news coverage of the same story.
>
> Thanks to all those who participated in the actual experience, and thank you
> for reading.
>
> elderbob
>
> -- Helping folks understand that it's never too late to become all they ever
> wanted to become.
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