Skype is trying something new, and we wanted to find out what it’s all about. Do you use Skype in your classroom—or have considered it? Then you might enjoy this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers.

We were intrigued when we saw “Skype in the classroom: A free directory that connects teachers and helps them use Skype to enrich students’ educational experience.”

When we saw that George Mayo was involved, we asked him to come explain what the project is trying to do.  As he explained:

I was one of many teachers Skype talked with. They are basically trying to set up a network for teachers who are using, or want to use Skype in their classrooms. The site is still in Beta I believe. It’s a great idea. I can also talk about how we just recently used Skype for our documentary project in my middle school classroom. We were able to Skype in and record about 15 different experts in different topics for our 18 different documentaries we are currently making. It would be interesting to hear what other teachers are doing with Skype. 

We were also joined on this podcast by Brianna Reynaud. As the Senior PR Manager for Skype in the Americas, Ms. Reynaud works “with media, bloggers and other organizations to spread the word about Skype across the region.” To get a sense of Brianna, check out a few of her recent twitter posts:

• The “Granny Cloud” uses Skype to educate children in India thenextweb.com/apps/2011/01/1… via @thenextweb

• It was love at first Skype http://t.co/VS39KBM (via The Scottish Sun)

• Michigan soldier watches daughter’s birth over Internet using Skype http://t.co/81SYPV6 via @freep

And check this out: Elie Wiesel, David Axelrod, and special guests talk politics via Skype at the Conference of Nobel Laureates at 92Y.

Enjoy this conversation with old and new friends of Skype!

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

Happy Valentine's Day! Today, we discussed skyping in the classroom and posting student work on blogs. We discussed ways we have used skype to connect with other classrooms; reading to others, sharing via video, and more. When posting student's work to their own blog, do they post their best or show a work in progress? (This conversation stemmed from the Feb. 11, 2010 SEEDlings show.) Does all work get published? What about the varying abilities within the class? We missed Lisa this week as she was on vacation, but she will be back next week.