Journal 6

Video Conferencing Around the World

McDermon, L. (2010) Bring the world into your classroom. Learning & Leading with Technology, (36)2, 34-35. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx

In this article, Linda McDermon examines how video conferencing not only can bring the entire world into your classroom, but it can also be more cost and time effective by not having to leave the classroom to take a field trip.  McDermon noted two programs that her school had used, “Read Around the World” and “Megaconference Jr.”, in which students were able to engage and interact with students from different cities, states, and even countries.  Video conferencing gives students the ability to talk with a historian at a museum and even talk with a librarian at a college.  These endless opportunities allow students to go as far as they want in subjects they are interested in, allowing them to pursue their passion.  

Another key point that McDermon also points out is that through video conferencing, students are exposed to different cultures and are able to interact with peers who are from different soceo-economic backgrounds.  This extremely important because as McDermon notes, when students graduate from college today they are no longer just competing for jobs with other students form nearby cities, they are competing with people from around the world.  Therefore, it is paramount that students become exposed to different cultures as the must learn to communicate, compete and interact with a global workforce.  

Overall, I believe McDermon does a good job of showing how video conferencing can be a great way to bring the classroom into the world.  I maybe would have liked to see a more specific example of a class field trip through video conferencing, but overall I think she did a great job.  In using this in my classroom, I think a great way would be to allow my students to be in touch with librarians from local colleges.  One thing I learned in my undergraduate studies is that university librarians have an abundance of knowledge in their fields.  Developing a rapport with a local university library would be a great way to engage in video conferencing on a class project. 

In terms of the NETS-S, this article relates to standard 2: “Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.”