U.S. State Department Connects Families via Skype During "Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays" Event

In order to brighten the spirit of the holidays, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton hosts an annual "Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays" event honoring the service, dedication and sacrifice of U.S. government employees and their families who are separated for long periods of time due to assignments in hardship posts around the world. Understanding how important it is to stay connected to loved ones, this year, the Office of the Chief of Protocol turned to Skype to help bring these separated families together over the holiday season using new and innovative technologies.
At this year's event, which is taking place later this afternoon, families will be able to celebrate and re-connect in a meaningful way with their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and other loved ones who are serving at US Embassies around the world via Skype. In addition, a Skype Group Video Call will also be set up so that personnel around the world can view a live stream of the program hosted by Secretary Clinton.
Skype feels privileged to be playing such an instrumental part in connecting these diplomatic families with their loved ones at this event. We'll be attending the event and sharing photos and video from the event via @Skype on Twitter and in a gallery on our Facebook page. Perhaps we'll even have the chance to talk with Secretary Clinton or Ambassador Marshall about the important role these diplomats are playing around the world? If we do, we'll be sure to share it with you.

Skype and the Olympics

Heather McPhie is an Olympic freestyle skier, who competed in the Ladies’ Moguls in Vancouver this year. I invited her to write about her experience of the Olympics and of Skype. Watch out for the second post about her competition day in the coming weeks.

One of my favorite things about the Olympics is the sense of connection. Athletes, staff, family, fans, and Olympic enthusiasts from all over the world coming together to watch the dreams and dedication of the worlds top athletes. When I say coming together I do not mean solely the people who travel to the Olympics; I mean everyone who watches, thinks about, and becomes involved in the Olympics and what it represents. In my opinion it does not matter which athletes or what country you are cheering for or representing, it matters that you are part of it. It matters that the world is coming together to celebrate something positive.

My world has exponentially expanded from becoming an Olympian. The amount of people I have gotten to meet, who have sent me encouraging words and been a part of my journey so far have made me feel more a part of the whole than ever. Made me feel closer to my hometown, my family and friends, my country and the world.

What an amazing gift to be able to connect people. Skype does that for me almost every day, and especially when I am on the road, away from many of my family and friends. To be able to see my sister and my nephew the morning of my event at the Olympics meant the world to me. I got a cyber hug from my sister, and got to listen to my nephew babble and laugh and play. To listen to my friend Susan talk about her Heather McPhie Olympic party in Park City and getting to Skype with people during the event brought tears to my eyes. It is an amazing sense of support and comfort to me, and I think of all the ways it has positively affected my life and I can not imagine how many other people feel the same way.

Pursuing my dreams in freestyle mogul skiing has taught me so much about myself, and taken me all over the world. It has been a wonderful journey, but also one that has felt lonely at times. My trip to Olympics and the coming World Cups has me away from home for two months. That is a long time for me to not see my family and friends. Skype has shortened the distance, made it easier for me to feel a part of things at home, while being on the road.

Skype in the classroom, now 20,000 members strong

Today, we've reached a key milestone: Skype in the Classroom has grown to a community of over 20,000 educators who are collaborating on a wide variety of projects across the globe. To celebrate this milestone, I thought it would be a great idea to sit down with Tony Bates, President of the Skype Division of Microsoft, to have him elaborate more about this transformational program.
What does Skype in the classroom mean to you?
Tony: I think of Skype in the classroom as a magnifying glass into what's happening in the world. It embraces the use of technology and overall transforms the way we learn. Classrooms are now bringing in all kinds of experts, educators and other students to talk over Skype. Olympians, NASA scientists, earthquake experts, celebrities, book authors, political activists and lots of other experts and students are making their way into classrooms across long distances due to Skype.
It helps students globally understand and examine the very things that shape their views of society, cultures, economies, business and education. It fulfills something that many of us have never had, or at least haven't had easy access to in the past - and because of that, it has the potential to change the world.

How has Skype in the classroom been received by the teaching community?
Tony: It's been better than we ever could have hoped. It's been a great initiative led by one of our passionate managers, Jacqueline Botterill, who launched it about a year ago. Today, we've just reached a milestone - 20,000 teachers are now signed up and we are seeing dozens of new projects added every day. What's been really interesting is that activity doesn't slow down, even during school breaks. Teachers have realized the role that Skype in the classroom can play; they enjoy not only doing the actual video calls, but they also like getting together to discuss lesson plans, share advice and best practices in this community too.
What is your ultimate goal of this program?
Tony: Our ultimate goal here is to help connect a million classrooms. More specifically however, we'd like to ensure that every teacher posting a project within Skype in the classroom finds an expert or partnering classroom, and has a great experience.
We also want to continue to improve this platform and grow the community so it continues to be a vibrant destination for educators. We notice that the requests for partner classrooms are really interesting. Just the other day, I noticed a request for a partner classroom looking for a lesson on Cubism, and saw another classroom which was looking at Astronomy and how the night sky differs in different parts of the world. There's a really big intellectual curiosity out there among this network of educators and it's fantastic to realize the possibility of what kind of knowledge can now be brought into classrooms.
The community is attracting other valuable participants besides just teachers too. So we need to be able to support and cater to the scientists, experts, and authors out there who want to contribute their time and expertise to educating our children.
Where is Skype in the classroom most popular?
Tony: At present, secondary schools seem to be making most use of Skype in the classroom, but teachers with students of all ages are participating. Whilst we see a concentration of teachers in the U.S, we have teachers in over 170 different countries.
Where do you see this going in the future?
Tony: There's a lot to be excited about here, but I think we are just at the very beginning. Distance learning has been around for a long time, and technology has helped it come a long way, but the power of this really unlocks as we get to a billion people, and access to the Internet and technologies like Skype stretches further into developing nations. That, in itself, is an inspiring vision because much of the world's differences, violence and prejudice comes from the lack of education and deep-seated cultural views. A simple face-to-face conversation between opposing sides can potentially be the beginning of inter-cultural cooperation and understanding, and starting that in the classroom is the best place. That said, I am concerned about the continued headlines around the declining support of education. Lack of funding, lack of internet access, lack of equipment, lack of support for teachers - are big barriers. It's important that we work together to help support education, and innovate further on the things that will invest in educating and improve the lives of young people across the globe.
In closing, we're glad others are taking notice of this wonderful program. This past September, Skype participated in The New York Times event on education, and we're pleased to see they have just released a whitepaper called "Schools for Tomorrow" showcasing how teachers can bring technology, such as Skype, into the classroom.

Experience Christmas and the Holiday season around the world on Skype in the classroom

As preparations for the holiday season are well underway in many schools around the world, Skype in the classroom teachers and their students are keen to share and compare their local traditions.
For teachers and classrooms who want to show-and-tell their stories, songs, crafts and culture with schools worldwide, we've brought together some of the best seasonal projects for Christmas and the Holidays taking place on Skype in the classroom. 

Children from Balatonbogla Primary School, Hungary participate in a monthly cultural exchange via Skype video. They are looking for students from all over the world to share their holiday traditions with.

It's easy for teachers to take part in a range of projects and join our community of over 19,500 Skype in the classroom enthusiasts in time for the holidays.

Meanwhile, if you have any great holiday projects, stories, images or videos to share please tweet us using #SkypeClassroom. We'd love to hear about them. We hope to bring you more great seasonal projects in the New Year.

Video calling and video conferences with Skype

A new whitepaper from Skype shows how innovative instructors have put the software to use for teaching students in new and interesting ways.
As students of all ages and teachers around the world prepare to get back to school - or perhaps have already begun to settle in to the academic routine - many might think of Skype as merely something university students use to make cheap calls home.
However, though we certainly think students should use Skype for video calls to mom and dad or instant messaging friends off at other universities, that's only the tip of the iceberg of what Skype has to offer, as shown in a recent Skype whitepaper .
Through Skype in the Classroom, instructors from around the world have the opportunity to collaborate on projects or share ideas through Skype chat or international calls. With free Skype-to-Skype calls, it's never been easier - or cheaper - to compare notes with other teachers, from down the street to Dallas, Djibouti or Dubai.
And the way classrooms from around the world have used Skype to provide a channel for information exchange has truly been inspiring. One chat that started between a classroom in England and members of the Maasai tribe in Tanzania blossomed into regular Skype-delivered English lessons and, finally, flights to Tanzania for a visit.
Skype has also been used regularly for instructors to stay in touch with their classes when carrying out research elsewhere, or for master classes taught by special guests. Guest speakers who may not be able to travel are no problem with Skype either - with a web cam, your classroom will be ready to greet its guest of honour.
If you're an educator or student whose education has been enhanced by Skype, why not let us know in the comments? We love to hear how Skype has helped in the classroom.

The Transformational Power of Skype in the Classroom

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to join a dynamic community of global leaders at the 2nd Annual Social Good Summit presented by Mashable, the 92nd Street Y, and the United Nations Foundation to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.

Specifically, I took to the stage to discuss Skype's unique ability to facilitate social good through the removal of traditional economic, geographic and/or cultural barriers to communication. This can be illustrated through our 'Skype in the classroom' initiative, which embodies the three characteristics that are central to our brand: Universal, Useful and Wonderful.

The Universal nature of Skype software means that anyone anywhere can use it to connect with anyone somewhere else around the world. An example illustrating this took place earlier this year, when a geography class in the United Kingdom wanted to learn how tourism impacted the lives of the Massai tribe in Tanzania. Because they used the same Skype software, the class and the tribesmen were able to talk across continents and cultural boundaries to learn a lot about their different lifestyles.

The Useful nature of Skype means that educators can put it into practical use to truly enrich the learning process. From the hundreds of projects that educators have collaborated on, we seen that this ranges from bringing in actresses, authors, politicians and other guest lecturers to teach lessons or connecting with people overseas to learn more about the culture in a foreign country or to practice speaking another language with a native speaker.

But most importantly, Skype in a classroom setting leads to Wonderful learning experiences. For example, teachers can now not only give a lesson about the war in Afghanistan, but also they can start a Skype pen pal program with a class in Afghanistan to help their students understand what it's like to live in a war-torn country.

As you'll see from the testimonials in this video, there are so many different ways that educators are using Skype in their classrooms - the only limit is their imagination.

During my speech, I also had the pleasure to talk live via Skype video call with an engineering class at the Oliver Street Elementary School in Newark, NJ. Oliver Street School is the first school in Newark to offer its middle school students courses from Project Lead the Way (PLTW), the leading provider of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) education curricular programs. The school's goal is to inspire students to pursue 21st Century careers by providing them a program in which they learn practical applications for what they learn in their core academic courses. And Skype is playing a huge role in getting their students excited about learning. I'd like to thank the school's principal, Mr. Havier Nazario, the class' teacher, Mr. Alan Usherenko, and sixth grader Giovanna Bialoglowka for opening their classroom up to us and sharing how they recently used Skype to connect with engineers at New York University to learn more about the fabrication and cutting of metal.

Many of these connections wouldn't be possible without our free 'Skype in the classroom' online resource, which allows teachers and subject-matter experts to find like-minded individuals with whom they can collaborate on projects and share educational resources with one another. In the six months since 'Skype in the classroom' officially launched, the response has been greater than we ever could have imagined. The following infographic illustrates the scale of this initiative's global impact to date:

It is truly amazing to visit the 'Skype in the classroom' site and read about the ways that our software is transforming the educational experience of students in so many teachers' classrooms. And it is inspiring to think about a classroom of the future where the learning process is never limited by physical, economic or cultural boundaries. It's a place where students will be able to use technology to have access to big data to start attacking some of the world's most pressing issues and crises. And it's also somewhere we can reduce suspicion of foreign cultures, minimize racism and increase tolerance through the connectedness that is born through technology.

We really see the possibility of making a million connected classrooms a reality and we will continue to do our part in working together to foster the classroom of the future, through the 'Skype in the classroom' resource and partnerships with both for profit, not-for-profit and governmental organizations. We invite you to join us in this initiative at http://education.skype.com.

Skype in the classroom just got a little bit better

Over the last few months Skype in the Classroom has grown to a community of over 15,000 teachers who are collaborating on a wide variety of projects across the globe. During that period we've taken some time to sit back, listen to your feedback, and make some subtle improvements.

New features include:

• Timezone converter: on project pages you can now check which timezone your potential partner teachers or class are in to make scheduling easier
• Filter: you can now filter teachers in the 'Teachers' tab by country by using the 'sort by country' drop-down menu on the left tab
• Bookmark: you can add 'teachers', 'resources', and 'projects' as favourites via the 'add as favourite' button and you can see them all on your profile page
• Project participation: If other teachers mark a project as their favourite, you can see who they are on the project page
• View: you can now view your own resources and projects on your profile page

• Share: it's easy to share resources on Twitter by clicking the 'tweet' icon

• Manage: you can now receive email notifications when someone comments on content that you share, by selecting the 'notify me' box when you edit your profile. 

We hope these changes make it a little bit easier for you to connect with colleagues and classes around the world. If you'd like to let us know what you think you can email us at education@skype.net or click directly on the 'Feedback' tab on education.skype.com. Alternatively you can always follow us via Twitter or Facebook. Meanwhile, more work is in progress.

Video on Skype – bringing you even closer together

Group video calling

Share, celebrate and collaborate from anywhere in the world. There's so much you can do together over group video.

At work
Group video calling can help you to build relationships and work effectively with colleagues, customers and clients from all over the world. Plus cutting down on travel means more time with loved ones at home.

 

 

Screen sharing

Share your screen with anyone on Skype for Free
or share with a group of friends or colleagues on Skype for Mac with Skype Premium     

Show people exactly what you're talking about

Show people exactly what you're talking about Screen share a presentation over a call and stay in control, show friends and family photos without having to send them - even give gran a quick demo of how you use email, so she can start using it, too. Free on one to one calls, or available for group calling through Skype Premium.

Group screen sharing is currently only available with Skype for Mac.

Skype

Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing. Skype has 663 million registered users as of 2010.
^{Unlike other VoIP services, Skype is a peer-to-peer system rather than a client–server system, and makes use of background processing on computers running Skype software; the original name proposed – Sky peer-to-peer – reflects this.}