Skype Reflections

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Subject: [PD 5032] Reflections, Small Group - Ning, Skype
From: Green, Catherine
Date: Wed Aug 4 11:38:29 EDT 2010

I participated in a couple of small groups - one on Ning, the other on Skype and here I'll focus primarily on Skype. (NB: I was on vacation for the week of July 26 and so my experience is a bit fragmented, though still personally meaningful.) And I did have a couple of ulterior motives for participating in these two groups, which I'll mention shortly.

  • What were some successes you encountered learning and using this social media tool?

Previously, I'd used Skype only for personal rather than professional use. In my limited small-group work for this NIFL discussion, I was able to experience Skype in a small conference setting and I also had a chance to do some pair-work with a colleague.

The conference was exhilarating as it seemed quite user-friendly - there didn't seem to be not such a steep learning curve for participants, though I think our facilitators, Richard and Susan, did a fair amount of behind-the-scenes prep. work to make sure things would work fairly smoothly.

The pair work experience was helpful in that I could immediately see how gratifying and useful Skype could be for teaching or PD. A new success was being able to activate the "screen-share" function in Skype. For an immediate, show-and-tell PD or learning experience, I could see this would really make Skype much more valuable. Other plusses: since Skype doesn't come with a whiteboard function, I suggested that we just share our desktop and use, say, MS Word to capture discussions, take notes, etc. (If we used a larger font, it would help make this ersatz whiteboard more visible to learners.) When I demonstrated the use of a Web cam with Skype, my partner immediately saw application possibilities for tutoring learners and adding an immediate and human touch.

  • What were some considerations or challenges you faced?

Most of the Skype activities went pretty smoothly, though there were a couple of technical problems. In our pair work activity, we had to spend a few minutes figuring out where things were on Skype (e.g., the screenshare function) and had to repeat sometimes when the sound quality was poor (echo cancellation feature didn't seem to be sufficient).

I echo the sentiments already expressed in the discussions on the challenges - managing the feeling of overload, having to learn how to navigate one more new system, figuring out which is the best option since so many products offer similar services, fitting PD in from home in the late hours of the day, etc. These aren't insurmountable, but in combination, they might leave a less-than-technocentric (is that a word?) adult educator feeling a little daunted.

  • What are your recommendations for using this tool in teaching or professional development?

I can see that in adult education in California, for example, where time and funds for PD are scarce, Skype might offer educators an opportunity to network easily and freely. I think we'd have to first gauge how easily educators can access Skype at their districts or whether its prohibited (as it is in my organization).

As for Ning, even though Ning eliminated its free services as of July, it still offers a pretty low-cost subscription service. If an organization wanted to pay for a subscription for an electronic Community of Practice, it would not be much to cover the cost; alternatively, the e-CoP could share or rotate the subscription fees among sponsoring organizations or have members chip in to cover the costs.

  • For what purpose(s)-if any-do you plan to use this tool in your practice?

My purposes are best addressed by my ulterior motives for joining these two small groups.

In joining the Skype small group, I had hoped to hear from other educators and professional developers how they are actively using Skype so that I could use this as ammunition in trying to convince my organization to "trust" Skype. (I could still use more ammo, so if anyone wants to chime in, or email me, I'd be grateful!)

In joining the Ning small group, I was eager to hear what challenges other professional developers faced in using Ning right off the bat, without much training. My interest stems from overseeing CALPRO's electronic Community of Practice that Jayme Adelson-Goldstein mentioned (ours is a Ning site that focuses on multilevel ESL instruction of adult learners). I'm trying to judge whether the slow-but-steady growth we're witnessing in our e-CoP is influenced by the technical challenges newcomers may face when coming to the Ning site or whether there are other issues at play - e.g.., lack of time to post, a desire to "lurk" (as Jayme noted - people can get a lot of PD without actually commenting and providing observable "proof").


Catherine Green
Research Analyst, CALPRO
American Institutes for Research
Sacramento, CA

Subject: [PD 5043] Re: Reflections, Small Group - Ning, Skype
From: Steve Quann
Date: Wed Aug 4 15:34:30 EDT 2010

Skype Reflection- Group Summary:

Susan and I sent out instructions and demos ahead of our first meeting, so I am glad that Catherine felt these helped. The idea was to meet as a group to go over features and then break into pairs to test things out. Most people were able to set up Skype audio quite easily ---at least for those with PCs and if the latest version was used. It seems that sometimes those with Macs run into difficulty.

What Skype does best seems to be call quality, as long as mic and headphones are tested and of decent quality. We did have a session with dropped calls, but not sure if we can blame that on Skype or not. Setting up a group conference call is easy. It allows muting but has an interface where folks can see when/who is starting to talk, which assists facilitation. We found joining callers after the call has started can be a bit tricky. And we discovered that not all features like, screen sharing, work in group mode. Other features such as the “test call” feature and recording extras like “Pretty Me” work great. There was however, confusion and disappointment with the ease of use of some of the extras because both parties needed to install the whiteboard “extra”, for example.

Using Skype with students: A couple of people in our group called into Susan Gaer’s class via Skype and were excited by the potential use they saw for guest speakers and classes visiting each other. Others like Catherine and her partner noticed the value of Skype for tutoring situations, whether using the desktop sharing feature or a white board extra. But some thought if sharing documents was going to be a key component then, Dim Dim or an online whiteboard might work better for sharing. I wondered about Skype’s value versus a phone. Price is one thing, but I think the group feature and the IM adds value over a simple phone calls. Pronunciation/spelling issues callers are having difficulty with can be clarified by typing and documents can be attached—these can’t be done with a phone nor can the personal touch of a web cam be achieved via a phone, at least not yet in the mainstream.

Use Skype in professional development:

A number in our group came in with an eye to how Skype could be used in PD. Although it seemed there was potential on a small scale such as mentoring, there were some who felt that web conferencing programs like Webex might be better for use with large groups.

To see individual reflections and other ideas, see our wiki page at http://aalpdgroup.wikispaces.com/Skype

Best,

Steve Quann
World Education
Boston, MA

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