Skype in the Classroom Is Out of Beta

An article by Darin Wagner    No Comments

I just received this email message from Skype in the Classroom:

We’re pleased to announce that Skype in the classroom is coming out of beta and bringing with it a few improvements.

We’ve refined the way you search for teachers and resources, and we’ve made profiles a lot more informative. We’ve also added two new features: a projects section and a world map of the Skype in the classroom teaching community.
 
Projects: the easiest way to collaborate

During our beta phase we collected a lot of feedback around teachers wanting to connect with other teachers in order to collaborate on specific activities.

To serve this need, Skype in the classroom now features a Projects section. This is a place for teachers to post the aims and needs of a project they’re working on, and solicit feedback and partnership from like-minded teachers. Projects are searchable by keyword, and can be browsed through by subject, age range, language and type of partner needed.
 
A global map of teachers

To help teachers visually locate themselves and connect with other teachers in complimentary time zones, we’ve incorporated a world map. The map makes it easy to find teaching partners by location, or to connect with teachers in places you may never have considered.

Next time you sign in to Skype in the classroom, head to your profile page and add yourself to the map. You can also now update your profile to include the languages you speak.
 
Coming out of beta: more shareable but still secure
 
As we come out of beta we want to make more of the site visible to people who aren’t yet members of Skype in the classroom. We’ve done this by allowing people who haven’t signed in to see what projects are happening, and by making it possible for you to share your projects on your own social networks.
 
We hope that by seeing what makes this community so wonderful, more teachers will be inspired to take part. As ever, your privacy is protected: your contact details and profile will only be shown to other teachers who have signed in to Skype in the classroom.

Finally, thank you. We’re doing our best to offer teachers a richer community with lots of effective tools for connecting and collaborating, and your feedback is helping us get there. We are still listening and Skype in the classroom is still evolving, so please keep in touch.
 
Many thanks,

The Skype in the classroom team

If you haven’t visited this site, consider doing so and creating an account. I am looking forward to using this resource myself and also for my colleagues!