Skype Update:
  
My previous post about Skype explained how I downloaded it onto my computer and registered, as well as my plans personally with it, being to video call my family in Montreal.  I called my family prior to our skype call to let them know we'd be calling, and then went ahead and called.  It was great for my son and my nephew to see each other while talking, and for my sister and I too.  I found it challenging to know where to look and what to focus on, and kind of found myself staring at the video footage of my sister and forgetting to talk or talking really loud.  The camera I used just attached to the top of my computer and did the job, although the quality didn't seem fantastic.  Because I've never used any other camera, I don't know if the quality was typical or not.  One thing I found frustrating is that it seemed to cut out and delay and there seemed to be a pause between talking and the other party hearing.  Again, I don't know if this is normal or perhaps the equipment I have is substandard.

I would like to try this again in the coming months to get some more experience with it personally before introducing it to any of the students I teach.  I think it could be a great resource for connecting kids/classes world wide.  In The Socially Networked Classroom, a blog is described as something that you can potentially have a worldwide audience with if you decide to share the URL with an audience (Pg. 61), and such things as skype can create those same levels of connectedness.  One idea I had was that if I were teaching a class that started writing to another class in another part of the world, it would then be interesting for the pen pals to see and speak to each other through Skype.  I can see the great value in this tool for connecting people worldwide.  Having said that, it was interesting to read the perspective in the article linked on my Voki post where online teaching finds Voki as opposed to Skype the superior tool.