Oprah has brought Skype and the constructive value of webcams to the attention of many people by bringing virtual audience members into her television shows for several months. Oprah’s March 3rd “A New Earth” Web Event used Skype videoconferencing to create (according to event sponsors) “the world’s largest classroom.” This modeling of the constructive value of webcams and desktop conferencing software by mainstream media authorities like Oprah is VERY important. Our perceptions of new technologies are shaped over time through information we see and hear, and conversations we have about those ideas. Oprah is helping constructively change the landscape of learning internationally by utilizing Skype in these ways. Go Oprah!

Wake Forest University is also on the leading edge of organizations utilizing web conferencing for constructive purposes as part of its admissions process. In his March 18th article for FoxNews, Jonathan Serrie notes that many graduate schools have been using videoconferencing interviews for years, but Wake Forest “is the first major institution to use webcam interviews for undergraduate admissions.”

Has this process of using Skype videoconferencing for interviews been troublesome and fraught with difficulties for Wake Forest staff? Hardly. According to Serrie:

Wake Forest admissions officials conduct their interviews over Skype, a free website. They said they’ve experienced no major problems — just the minor domestic hazards one would expect when people speak to you from their homes.

“We have the random doorbell ringing, or the dog barking, Allman said. “The student has to say, ‘Let me get my dog. Just a minute.’”

Kudos to Wake Forest officials for embracing videoconferencing as a way to personalize the admissions process. How prepared are the majority of students at your school, today, to represent themselves professionally in an interview over video? The use of Skype by college admissions officials provides another reason to regularly integrate and utilize technologies like videoconferencing so students are both comfortable and literate communicating in a different digital medium. The old saying, “You only have one chance to make a first impression” is true whether an interview is conducted face-to-face or over video. As more universities begin using videoconferencing for undergraduate interviews, it makes sense to help students learn to “put their best foot forward” in these types of virtual interview situations.

Constructive examples of Skype use in K-12 classrooms are growing in number as well. Students at Howe Public Schools in southeast Oklahoma are using a variety of videoconferencing technologies to expand the traditional four walls of the classroom. High school student Andrea Ford has used Skype to interview the student leaders in several national organizations in the past year.

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

For more examples of classroom videoconferencing uses in K-12 contexts, see Neil Stephenson’s guest post here on ISTEconnects from February 15th, “The Many Roles of Skype in the Classroom.” Also check out Howe, Oklahoma, teacher Tammy Parks‘ November 2008 keynote at the Oklahoma Distance Learning Association’s conference, “Humanizing the Learning Technology.”

The “Skype in Schools” wiki is also a good resource to utilize as a classroom teacher seeking virtual guest speakers and collaborators for your classroom. I learned about it this past January following an ISTE webinar by Leigh Zeitz (Dr. Z.)

One of the best ways to introduce classroom teachers to the value and possibilities of Skype in the classroom is to show them Brian Crosby’s 2007 presentation for the K-12 Online Conference, “Video-Conferencing It’s Easy, Free and Powerful.” The video “Inclusion” linked in the presentation’s supplementary resources is one of the most compelling examples of Skype’s value in K-12 schools I’ve seen to date.