Skypecasts

Today I took part in my first Skypecast, which for those who are unaware of the application, allows Skype users to all talk to each other. A kind of teleconferencing I guess, but completely free of charge. I happened upon some teachers in Japan who were themselves trying out the technology. I had a great chat with Mat, who teaches for an online school in Tokyo. Although the connection was less than perfect at may end, the whole experience got me thinking about how this could be used in the future.

On the most obvious level, the use of Skype could allow me to make up for private lessons I missed or to do lessons with students who are stuck at home etc. Great, but not exactly groundbreaking. However, if we take this idea a step futher, then the location of the teacher or the student ceases to be important. I could, with a fast internet connection, quite as happily give lessons to somebody in Beijing as the centre of Thessaloniki. Now you could argue that as I'm not based in China and know nothing of Chinese culture and language then my usefulness would be limited. In the case of beginning and intermediate students then you would probably be right. However, with more advanced students then this would be less of a drawback.

Already, American parents are using Indian maths tutors as a low cost alternative to teachers at home. It would be ironic indeed if Chinese and Indian lessons were outsourced to english-speaking countries such as the States and UK.

ΤΙ ΚΟΖΑΝΙ, ΤΙ ΛΟΖΑΝΝΗ.