Welcome to Skype and Google Hangouts

Let’s take a look at Skype ! Skype  Always one-on-one visual  Video calls  Authors will skype  Students can have study buddies  Parent conferences  Career Day Google Hangout  One-on-one conferences  Group conferences  Circles – set up your own groups of people for different reasons, such as various study groups, family, college classes, colleagues in district and out of district

Did you know Skype was around during the 1960’s?

Google+ Hangouts is a free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and group chats with up to ten people at a time. While somewhat similar to Skype, FaceTime and Facebook Video Chat, Google Hangouts focuses more on "face-to-face-to- face" group interaction as opposed to one-on- one video chats, and utilizes sophisticated technology to seamlessly switch the focus to the person currently chatting.

So let’s get started. First, we will look at setting up a Skype account.

So let’s get started!You need to have a g-mail account set up to have a SkypeGo to web link: are some tutorials from the site to explain what Skype is and how to sign up. Be sure to fill in all the required fields.(Run execute file)This is a free site for” video calls” which provides one to one connection with no fee.You can sign up for “phone call”, but there is a slight fee for this service. You can also have more than one person on at a time,but a fee is attached for this service.If you go to “Skype for Educators” an abundance of ideas are ready to be looked at and offered for your use.

Instructional suggestions— 1. Use to bring authors into the classroom to discuss a book or tell what it’s like to be an author. 2.Students use Skype to study for a test, work on a project together at a distance, or to practice lines for a play. 3.To talk to other kids living in different areas of the world, such as Australia 4.Like “Pen Pals” have “Skype Pals” 5.Career Day—specialists can’t leave the office, but can Skype into your classroom and give you a tour of their workplace and present a talk from their office area.

Google Hangouts is another web tool. I see it basically used among colleagues in the district and those in education worldwide who would be willing to share ideas and concepts. Google Plus for Education has some tutorials to help explain what “Hangouts” are and how to create them. You can create circles for particular groups of people with whom you need to keep in contact, such as family, group of teachers, or classmates. You can also create your own demos using Google.Plus. Unlike Skype, you can have up to ten people on at the same time for no extra cost. You can share documents, You Tube presentations, and pictures through the screen share. Classes can also take place on Google.Plus There is an age requirement for its users so elementary students would not benefit from this web tool. Teachers~yes! You must have a g-mail account to get started. Go to through your g-mail. Fill out the required fields, then go to Start a Hangout.