How can Skype be used in professional educational practice for teaching and learning purposes.

Technology plays a central role in education today with the incorporation of computers into the classroom and the integration of the Internet into the education system. This means that the educational landscape has changed for good (Adamson, 2012).

      Social media offers new and appealing possibilities to students to express themselves in a variety of ways and freely participate in various dialogues to obtain diverse knowledge and cultures. Moreover, social media platforms allow users to interact and collaborate with each other as creators of user-generated content, exploiting different tools, interfaces, software, and storage facilities to add value. Social media technologies are simple to use and accessible to people with minimal technical skills; anyone with access to a simple device can operate such means (Adamson, 2012).

As educational technology evolves, social media has become more heavily integrated into educational approaches. For instance, it has been adopted by higher education institutions as a tool for supporting professional development education to get the newest knowledge at any time or place. At the same time, also in higher education, social media has been implemented as a tool of continuous and seamless communication between instructor and students as well as between students (Boyd, 2003).

      According to Weisgerber,  & Butler,  (2010) Skype is regarded to be an application allowing users to communicate through the internet. Skype is an internet-based communication which allows users to make voice and video calls. Not only video chat and voice calls, it also enables the features of instant messaging capability. Skype is one of the early successes which were founded by Nikolas Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus fries of Denmark. Skype has the feature of making calls up to five Skype users at one time without cost. It is observed that with each additional caller the quality of the call diminishes. The additional feature of Skype is webcam which facilitates to have a video conference call with the colleagues by looking the list of online contacts. Depending upon how the Skype is being utilized, it brings the advantage to both the personal and business communication. These days, Skype has become a fashionable way of communication with the ability to call anyone in the world that has Skype account without being charged.

Skype provides lots of other benefits in teaching and learning process like, exchange of various documents, images, clips etc. Nowadays, it has been popular in different universities among students and teachers for sharing their knowledge. According to Boyd (2003). “More than 9317 teachers use Skype for sharing their knowledge. Another great thing is that Skype in the classroom can be used by students of all ages. With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures and expand their knowledge in amazing ways. Skype helps students to engage in real-life conversations where students can practice their skills. Skype has helped students and teachers to learn what a classroom in another country does by giving previously unachieved access. Skype is about bringing education to life.

Skype for education opens the door to many possibilities. Depending on the type of school, educators can use Skype for everything to improve the quality of education. Chalkboards, textbooks and visual aids have been used to teach, but the advancement of the technology has begun altering the way of students in learning. Skype, an application you can download for free on your computer or mobile phone, allows you to make voice and video calls over the Internet. It can also be used in the classroom to expand the educational landscape. From guest lecture, field trips, parental conference and tutoring, Skype has the ability to enrich the learning process for both students and teachers.

Skype provides opportunities to different teacher and student which will support for the professional development of individual. Students gain knowledge from their respective teachers with the help video conference. It will provide the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills.  Nowadays interviews for college admissions are done through Skype. The idea of distant education has become a reality with the application of Skype for education. Many lectures and lessons are also provided through Skype in this modern era. Educators motivate students by developing the twenty‐first-century literacy skills in the classroom by using the technologies like Skype to link students with a global partner to exchange knowledge and collaborate with them. Skype in the classroom strives to enrich student`s learning experiences to discover new cultures, languages and ideas without leaving the classroom.

Skype is excited to collaborate with teaching, like-minded organizations to bring relevant content directly to innovative teachers who are looking to create unforgettable shared learning experiences for their students. Skype has played important role in grooming the knowledge of number of students. It is practice in most of the educational institution as it helps to empower the knowledge of individual student ( Weisgerber,  & Butler 2010). With the access of Skype one can gain the knowledge as lectures from any corner of the globe can come into the classroom. This is all due to development in the technology. Teachers can have authors and other guest speakers who do not have the ability to travel to a classroom speak over Skype to share their ideas. Teachers often invite guest speakers to lecture or inform their students about a particular topic, relying on the speaker’s schedule to make it happen.

Using Skype in the classroom allows guest lecturers/speakers to talk with students from anywhere in the world at any time, eliminating the need for the speaker to physically be in the classroom. Students can ask the speaker questions in real-time using Skype. Students can also receive answers from the speaker in real-time. Honestly, nowadays it is common for any student to attend class through Skype and enhance their knowledge. For example, a student from Fiji can get admission in the University of the West Indies and attend classes by just staying at home with the use of Skype. Skype is not only a social networking app but also a vital learning tool in this world full of technologies. Additionally virtual field trips that are not possible due to financial reasons or distance can still be taken using Skype to transport students to another country or area.

However it has some limitation when using Skype,  as a teaching-learning tool such as technical issues like dropped connections, the camera malfunctions and choppy video streams, it will quickly make a video conference frustrating or useless. Using Skype in teaching-learning approach is time-consuming. Some students abuse the social network for different purpose such as dating. Therefore, the use of Skype is a waste of time.

  It requires Wi-Fi or 3G service to run Skype, , and there are also cost factors to consider as everyone needs the proper equipment to participate in the call which could present financial challenges.

Reference

Al-Khalifa, H. S. (2010, May). Finding a place for Twitter in higher education. eLearning. Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=1821980

Adamson, C. (2012). The role of social media in education. Retrieved 21-01-2013 from http://www.icwe.net/oeb_special/OEB_Newsportal/the-role-of-social-and mobile media-in-education/

Boyd, D. (2003). “Are you ready for social software?” Retrieved from www.darwinmag.com

Ellison, N., Steinfield, C.,  Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends”: Exploring the relationship between college students’ use of online social networks and social capital. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12 (3), article 1. Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.htm

Valenzuela, S., Park, N.,  Kee, K. F. (2009). Is there social capital in a social network site?: Facebook use and college students’ life satisfaction, trust, and participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 875–901.

Weisgerber, C.,  Butler, S. (2010). Editor’s introduction: Special issue on communication pedagogy in the age of social media. Electronic Journal of Communication, 20(1-2), 1. Retrieved, from http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/v20n12toc.htm