17 October 2014

Connecting with Australian Students on Skype by Ms. Vandana Parashar Form Tutor Gr 5


Form 5 students recently had an exciting time reaching out across the globe to students in Australia via Skype.

It was all a part of exploring  the Central Idea- “Technology is the modern language of human expression”. Students were inquiring into different forms of technology which help in communication and had conducted a survey in school about how technology is used in classrooms. We decided to go a step further and connect with a school overseas to find out how technology is used in their classrooms. It was a great learning ground for all the students as they got a chance to share their views on the use of various tools and apps- for education.

It was even more exciting for us to see how advanced our technology use is, in some areas – allowing students to teach their counterparts.  The students of Morris Friends’ Primary Years School at North Hobart were ecstatic to see how we used document camera for construction of angles. They showed a lot of enthusiasm at the idea of making ‘pen-pals’ and exchanging emails t

o share some new ideas such as running a book club. Since they had explored an app called ‘green screen’, our students also got excited to explore it in their next ICT class. Some of our students also explained how they used Prezi for their presentations this time and offered help to the kids in Australia, in case they wish to collaborate with them, online, via Prezi. We also shared the way we have begun ‘flipping our classrooms’ where the main teaching happens online and students follow up with the task in school.  It was exciting to know that in their school, students in Form 5 get to carry a laptop to school. This information brought a sudden wave of anticipation in all our students!

We all had a great time connecting with people in the other continent, who were 5 hrs ahead of our time. From weather to technology to reading, we chatted on a number of topics in about 30 minutes and realized that Technology has actually shrunk the world!