http://skype.com
Synchronous communciation remains the most challenging, but fruitful form of online communication in e-learning. It challenges us because time, not distance, is what often keeps us apart – without common time, synchronicity is impossible and, indeed, the advantages of distributed temporal engagement are lost. But realtime co-(tele)present communication – especially with voice – touches something human in us which, perhaps, a screen of text does not.
The basics
Skype is a downloadable application (often now installed everywhere, including university lab computers) that enables people to use the internet for audio-video realtime communications, as well as more traditional text chat (and even text and video –often easier than voice!). Skype is relatively simple to use, though configuring mics and cams can sometimes be harder than it should be. Skype probably works best with dedicated headphones / mic combinations.
Of equal interest is the capacity of Skype to host persistent chat rooms, entry to which can be controlled or moderated, in which people with common purpose (such as all students in a unit of study) can come and go, rather than having to set up a specific time for chat.
Pedagogic Challenge
The challenge for Skype and other synchronous technologies is, in fact, to know when not to use them. Synchronicity, for on campus students, is provided by the co-present interactions in the classroom and it is probably not worth adding complexity with an alternative. For distance-education students, Skype can too often turn into an attempt to replicate the on-campus experience which, especially for groups, is impossible online. Thus, Skype challenges us to think of new ways to use voice and video interactions which extend, not replace, the classroom for such learners.
One clear use of Skype, already well established, is for international cooperation between students particularly for language education and cross-cultural exchange. Here the advantages of synchronous, voice-based communication are clear: learning to speak another language requires that you actually speak it.
Alternatives
More temporary alternatives for chat (including video) can be found at services such as Vyew, which is browser-based (no download), has a whiteboard and other features. Tinychat also works well. Many universities have invested in corporate systems such as Elluminate. I wonder if it is worth the bother?
Read…
Card, D. et al. 2006. Can You Hear Me Now: The Return of Voice to Distance Learning. Proceedings of the Web-based Education conference
Chan, A. et al. 2007. Facilitating cross-cultural learning through collaborative skypecasting. SIGITE ’07 Proceedings of the 8th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education.
Latzko-Toth, G. 2010. Metaphors of Synchrony: Emergence and Differentiation of Online Chat Devices. Bulletin of Science Technology Society 30.5: 362-374.
Liu, L. (2007). A Synchronous Communication Tool for Online Learning: Strategies, Issues Outcomes. In R. Carlsen et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2007, pp. 2399-2403. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
