Using Webcams in the Classroom
About a year and a half ago, I became frustrated by the number of teachers that I had observed that had made no effort to connect their students with experts outside of their own classrooms. I began looking for ways to “break down the walls” of traditional classrooms through new technology. One of the ways that I found was through the use of webcams, which allowed experts to be connected with students inexpensively, and without having to travel. My first test was connecting a class that I was teaching at BYU at the time (IP&T 286) to an educational technology professor on the other side of campus. Next, I set up a virtual violin lesson. After two very successful “trial runs” I contacted my good friend Baldomero Lago, a Spanish education professor at BYU, with the project. He and I began testing the idea with some high schools in Utah. Technical snafus set us back a bit (mostly due to the strict proxy settings in the public schools). Baldmonero stuck with it though, and was finally able to get it to work. Using his connections in Spain, he was able to set up a project where students from Murray High School worked in teams with students from a High School in Galicia, Spain. There is an article on the project in the Salt Lake Tribune. What Baldomero has done is one of the best examples of technology integration I have ever seen. He and I are currently working on a paper discussing the benefits of using social connectivity technology in foreign language classrooms – stay posted!
January 24th, 2005 at 4:55 pm
No we SHOULD NOT have webcams in classrooms they are too expensive kids would get paranoid and feel they were being watched 24/7 and teachers should be able to control their kids without having someone baby-sit them for them!
February 7th, 2005 at 1:25 pm
Thanks for the comment, however it appears that you have not understood this project. First of all the equipment used is NOT expensive (under $100) and is NOT done 24/7. The purpose of using webcams is NOT to baby sit, but to bring experts from around the world into the classroom.
February 15th, 2005 at 9:50 am
VERY GOOD REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!!!!! Finally, someone that understands! Paranoya runs the country!!!!