Dangers of Skype

This cannot be tweeted because there is no way to condense it to 140 characters. So think of this as a long tweet and a warning.

Tonight I was teaching a class to other teachers. We were learning to create wikis and exploring Discovery Education Streaming. I decided to break things up a bit and started a skype chat with my friend behind me. We were playing with various new skype icons and were complaining about sitting so long.

I got up to go help someone with a download and my friend called me back to the computer. All of a sudden, under my login, I read, "Aren't you guys supposed to be in class?" I did not type it. No one in the room got up, went to my computer and typed it. AHHHHHH

We waited for another response. nothing Finally my friend got an idea, she types back into the chat and asks if this is my husband. It was and then he continued to antagonize us.

The warning for all skypers out there.... never leave your home computer logged into skype when you are not home! You never know what will happen. The only saving grace is I had just shut the projector off!

Blabberize

I have been trying to come up with a solution to this issue:

Some parents don't grant permission for their child's photo to be online. (Which I totally respect.)

So, how do you still include that child in activities online?

Blabberize allows you to upload an image, create a mouth, and record voice. The mouth then moves as the recording is played back.

Hmmmm, a child could draw a picture of him/herself, draw the mouth, and record their own voice.

Think of the possibilities. If you are recording your students doing an activity, like a book review, this child could now participate.

Click here to see what I mean.