Using Skype for Teaching in Virtual Classrooms

by Ramon Thomas in Education on 0101/050505/2011201120112011 • No Comments • , , ,

The classroom has continuously experienced advances in the fields of computers and technology for decades. These technological advancements have even reached the education field, with numerous virtual classrooms emerging left and right. You no longer need to be physically present at the classroom in order to learn anything and everything under the sun. You can complete ordinary courses as well as university courses by using Skype, a computer software application that allows for voice chat, text chat and video chat between users in a global scale.

Using Skype to teach in a virtual classroom is very easy. This is due to the fact that this software has been developed in order to be as user-friendly as possible. Both old folks and young ones alike will be able to use it with ease. If you want to learn from a virtual classroom somewhere in South Africa then this is the perfect tool for you to use. The good part here is that more and more schools and universities in South Africa will credit all of the units and hours that you spend in a virtual classroom, allowing you to save on the travel time to and from the school.

Skype is now considered the teaching technology of the future. Children and adults alike will no longer be required to personally attend classes in the near future in order to save on the expenses. Skype is the first step through the numerous innovations to come in the near future since experts say that it will be around for a long time. Earning general education, further education and higher education in South Africa will no longer be a problem with the help of this powerful communication software tool. Use skype for anything and everything related to video communication, calls, text chat or voice chat in order to learn, study and absorb the teaching of your virtual teachers and professors alike.

Skype in the classroom is a newly developed feature of Skype that allows teachers, professors and educators alike to collaborate with each other during class hours. These educators can easily stay in touch with each other using the Skype application, allowing for a more interactive discussion not only between themselves but also between their respective classes as well. Typical examples that this feature provides is that it allows for global languages, joint projects and guest lectures by professors and their colleagues in South Africa and other parts of the world.

Currently, there are more than 7,000 users of this collaboration feature provided by Skype. In a recent exchange of information regarding earthquakes, a U.S. based classroom and a Chilean based classroom interactively exchanged pieces of data and information regarding earthquake safety tips and things to avoid during an earthquake. All of such information exchange is through the use Skype perspective. The best part here is that you will be able to earn all of the required certifications, graduate’s degree, master’s degree or even doctor’s degree in any Skype based university situated in any part of the world with the help of this powerful communicating tool.

Incoming search terms:

Leadership in a Technology Driven World

by Ramon Thomas in Education/Events on 1616/090909/2008200820082008 • 1 Comment • , , , ,

Worldwide there is a crises in education and schools and perhaps even more so in Africa. All you have to do is open any newspaper and you will read stories like this letter from a very concerned parent in the Namibian. This keynote speech was delivered to over 240 Deputy Heads of Independent Schools at St John’s College in Johannesburg. There are a number of questions that I explored in this speech for the first time.

They include:

  1. Complexity > Clarity (Paradox of Choice, etc)?
  2. Confusion > Confidence (Leadership, Wisdom, etc)?
  3. Conflict > Collaboration (Web 2.0, Open Source, etc)?

Anyway enjoy the presentation from my Slideshare.net account here:

Incoming search terms:

Gauteng Online is a failure doomed from the beginning

by Ramon Thomas in Education on 0505/111111/2007200720072007 • 13 Comments • , , ,

What where they thinking when the Gauteng department of Education promised to connect all the schools in Gauteng to the Internet within 5 years? This is a rhetorical questions about the stupidity of infrastructure projects of this nature. The government themselves are the most inefficient users of technology and with this project they were meant to install computers and Internet access for all the schools in the richest province in the country. It remind me of my time in the United Arab Emirates. These Arab people had money coming out of their ears but did not know how to use it and relied on foreign workers from South Africa, India, Pakistan, Europe, UK and America to do their thinking for them.

Anyway back to South Africa. If you think about the lack of mathematics and science teachers we have in the country, it’s certainly no surprise that Gauteng Online has been such a dismal failure. While doing research for this article most media mentions and even blog postings date back from 2005. So that means people either forgot about it in the last 2 years or have blatantly ignored this project.

The original amount set aside for this project was R500 million! Now tell wouldn’t that money could not have been better used at the schools. For example to put in telephone lines to the thousands of schools with no telephones, or better yet fix the sanitation and make sure they all have running water.

A few years ago I came across Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He basically says that our physiological needs must be met, before we move onto safety, love, self-esteem and eventually self-actualisation. Now for kids to have Internet access is a need that most likely falls between love and self-esteem because it allows them to communicate with others, as well as express themselves by publishing websites. All I would like to say is that we should put pressure on the national Government to get its priorities in order.

It’s probably safe to say that this project is costing the Gauteng Provincial Government more than R500 million with all the disappointments from the previous companies involved. It’s no surprise they have re-issued the tender once again.

Incoming search terms:

Shift Happens – Did You Know 2.0

by Ramon Thomas in Education on 0808/070707/2007200720072007 • 1 Comment •

This video clip was first introduced to me through Vinny Lingham’s blog. I’ve since recommended it widely and also used it in a Social Media seminar I conducted at AAA School of Advertising in Cape Town back in May. It was a hit with the students. Anyway the back story to this presentation is now included in the new video version posted on Youtube. The presentation was created by Karl Fisch with assistance from Scott McLeod.

I really believe we have a major problem in South Africa because we are not doing enough to get ahead. What I mean is that the system is so convoluted and outdated, we will not be competitive with our peers. While if we listed to this kind of advice and learn from the best fastest growing countries in the world like India and China, we can accelerate our growth. Everything we need starts with learning and education.


So if you want to participate in this conversation head over to the Shift Happens Wiki.

TEDGlobal 2007: Session 12: Patrick Awuah

by Ramon Thomas in Internet on 0707/060606/2007200720072007 • No Comments • , , , , ,

Patrick AwuahPatrick Awuah left Microsoft to found Asheshi University. The questions of transformation in Africa is a question of leadership. He gives a shocking example of two incidents at a hospital when they lost power. Learned about courage when stopped at age 16 and stopped by soldiers who wanted him to join some protesters. He found it’s helpful to think about girls, basically taken the anxiety of the moment away for him at the time. He won a scholarship to attend Swarthmore College. The ability to create is the most empowering thing that can help an individual. While he worked at Microsoft the revenue of the company group grew larger than the GDP of Ghana.

Three major problems were identified when he came back to Ghana and interviewed many people to find out the root causes. What was identified is corruption, weak institutions and leadership. A sense of entitlement was found in graduates. He wishes there was a liberal arts university in every African country, they would make a huge difference. A month after launching he received and email from a student, “I am thinking now.” Another student asked “Can we create a perfect society?” after they were issued a challenge to come up with their own honour codes. This has lead to a vigorous debate among the students on campus. For the first in the history of Ghana, a woman was elected to be president of student body. This is real hope.

A 100% of the student have been placed after two graduations. Excellent feedback is pouring in from corporate Ghana and corporate West Africa.

This project reminds me of the impact of the CIDA City Campus university in South Africa. I really think Teddy Blacher, founder of CIDA should have been invited to speak or at least attend TEDGlobal.

Incoming search terms:

Recommendations

Recent Posts

Office +27 081 4399 555

Contact Info

Head Office Cell. 074 124 1696

Email: faye@ramonthomas.com

Hours: Monday-Thursday 08h00 - 18h00

Office

Get Direction on Map »

Pages

Twitter Updates

Tweets

Blogroll

Flickr

Archives

Categories

© 2011 Ramon Thomas . All Rights Reserved.

Designed by

Close
loading...