Jun 30 2009
synchronous communications
Having access to this toolkit has been particularly helpful for me. Since I teach in a F2F environment I don’t have alot of call to utilize online communication tools. The ability to try out a few of these tools has shown me that there are a few applications in my classroom where they could be utilized.
Inspired by this toolkit I spent a couple of lab periods at the end of the year using iChat at school. We are a Mac district so this is readily available to me. What I found useful was the ability to utilize this tool in the lab so that students could collaborate without physically sitting next to each other. This not only made for an engaging experience for my students but also worked as a management tool to help keep the noise level down in the lab. This served two functions. First, it allowed the kids to focus on their work without distraction. Second, and best of all, the absence of noise for a short period of time for their beleaguered teacher! : )
The downside of this experience was also a management one however! Thank goodness for Remote Desktop software!!