Skypecasts

Skypecasts are a product from the friendly folks at Skype. In my limited experience with them so far, I think that these (or services like this) will be HUGE in the future.

Skypecasts is still a Beta product. Beta means that it is not finished and is just being publicly tested. This means that the product isn't without a significant number of bugs. However, after joining 3 of these Skypecasts now, I can tell you that the bugs don't impede use of the product.

While there are many languages represented here on many topics, tne of the most interesting use of this product is with the numerous Skypecasts focusing on English language practice (there are some other languages represented as well). These are run both by "teachers" (I don't really know their qualifications) and language learners themselves. The latter is the most interesting use.

There's a neat little "widget" (see the right side) that displays all of my upcoming Skypecasts. You can click on the right one (the times are a little off--just choose the one closest to the meeting time below) to get to the Skypecast (Skype must be turned on first). This will load a Web page that contains a link to "join this Skypecast" (only at the time it is scheduled--not earlier).

We'll give it a try for the first time next week

Korea: Sunday 12:00am
Sweden: Saturday 4:00pm
Greensboro: Saturday 10:00am
Indianapolis: Saturday 10:00am
Little Rock: Saturday 9:00am
Chicago: Saturday 9:00am
Clovis: Saturday 8:00am

If you notice the time span here, you can tell that it's tough to find a time when we can all meet. I think that the above time could work best. While I know that one time will never be good for everyone, this one seems pretty good.

* Please double check these times for your time zone (the Korea time is correct) try http://www.timeanddate.com

Dan

Skype

This is one of the "nice to know" pieces that I will post in this blog. It is not an assignment and you don't even have to read it if you're not interested :) but it's nice to know.

Skype started out as simply an Internet telephony service. They have always had pretty good quality service, which set them apart in the early years of this movement. They started adding a great deal of functionality over time. They have surpassed most of the messenger (chat) clients in this regard. The inclusion of Video conferencing (in Beta as of this posting) puts them over the top.

I have both SkypeOut (buy credits, like a calling card, to call international--domestic calls are free for the near future) and SkypeIn (a "receiver" phone number that routes calls to your computer). I have also utilized the call forwarding function which allows me to route phone calls to just about any phone.

This is how I envision all of these working together to provide my U.S. family, friends, and students easy (and free...for them) phone access to me while I'm living in Korea.

I bought a phone number (SkypeIn) with a Chicago area code that people can call. This will only cost them domestic long distance charges (if applicable). Calling this number will ring on my computer or go to voicemail if I don't answer. Lastly, I will combine this with call forwarding, which will ring any phone that I have in Korea.

All of this doesn't cost the caller anything. I have to pay a small fee, but it is definately worth it. If I forward it to a cell phone it costs about 8 cents a minute, If I forward it to my office phone it only costs about 3 cents/min. On top of that, SkypeIn costs about $4/month (depending on the plan you use).

You may be asking, "what does this have to do with language learning"? Not much. Skype is a great application for your students to contact native language speakers no matter where they are for free or cheap (users can "call" from computer to computer, peer-to-peer, for free anywhere in the world). This brings a new dimension to class or personal exchanges between country (language) A and B. No longer are your students limited to interactions with a single model speaker (you) as the beginning and end of their L2 conversational exposure.

I also see this nearly seemless integration between telephony and computer as a given in much of our future technologies. Just look at your newer cell phone. You can send and receive text, audio, images, and video and whether you know how to do this or not, your younger students do.

I look forward to exploring the possibilities of using Skype in the near future.

* I haven't been able to find much written about how people are using Skype, though I'm sure it's out there. If you run across anything add a comment.

Thanks to Annie for this link to the Wikipedia entry on Skype (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype). It's overwhelming technical and a little boring even for a geek like me, but there is some useful information and links.