Can You See Me Now? - How Video Conferencing Breaks Down Borders

Just like any other topic, there is no shortage of programs that enable video conferencing.  Gone are the days of instant messaging everything and even the early programs such as AOL.  The world is getting smaller, and video conferencing fills a great need in the business world and in people’s personal lives.

From my own personal experiences, research online and speaking with others in the professional world, I have decided that there are a few programs that are still the favourites despite new developments.  Firstly, I am still a major user of Skype.  I remember when it first came out (I was living in England) and throughout my years abroad I have always used this program to stay in contact with my family and friends.  It is reliable, popular, and mostly, free.  I think if video conferencing is not part of your daily routine, then have a great free option is the way to go.  It also has a mobile version, which is awesome.  However, where I have struggled with Skype before is sometimes the connection is weak (even though we both have great internet access) and video had to be turned off, and that I have to delete the read messages from all devices.

In the business world, some of my professional friends have told me that GoToMeeting is their choice.  This is a paid program, but it seems to fulfill the needs of a business meeting.  With abilities to share your screen and documents in real time with others in the meeting, people can display information and allow real time discussion.  Although this might not be what we will use in schools, it could be something that educators can use since it also has a training aspect.

In this course, Hangouts was the conferencing method of choice.  I found it easy to use and I don’t think many people would have a problem operating it.  It was awesome to have a conversation and discuss topics with my fellow educators in this course, since meeting in person was obviously out of the question.  As a teaching tool to meet other teachers, this is awesome.  Just this morning I saw that my professor in Mexico was invited to share in a video conference with Alberta Education.  Since there is a big Spanish Bilingual Program here, it is amazing that Alberta Ed. is staying connected to professionals from all areas of the Spanish speaking world.

This brings me to the question: what am I going to do with this tool?  How can I use this with students to bring authenticity to some projects?  After some thinking, I am going to cue from Alberta Ed.  Since I will be part of the Spanish program, I really want to connect with other teachers and students in a Spanish speaking country.  Call it the modern day pen pal, students will be able to speak and see other native speakers.  They can talk about their personal lives, school, and create a connection with someone that they would not otherwise meet.  How awesome is that?!  They could even take this one step further with video blogs or combined projects when the differences in time are just too much.  As for me, I can use it as an opportunity to further my Spanish and learn about techniques and tools used in another country.  Any opportunity to connect with native speakers and practice Spanish while connecting to learning is of the utmost importance and all-around win-win situation for students and teachers.