Episcopal Collegiate Mystery Skype

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Tech Talk: What is Global Thinking?

As Episcopal Collegiate works to re-imaging learning with technology we are exploring how to think globally. Technology affords us the opportunity to reach out to a global community and interact with students both nationally and internationally. One way to communicate beyond our walls is for our students to blog or create interactive websites that share their learning experiences. Another way is by directly contacting other classrooms and students with messaging and streaming technologies. This week some of our 3rd grade classes are using Skype to reach out to students in the United States to play "Mystery Skype". Skype is a live streaming video service that allows each class to see and hear one another on a large screen. With mystery Skype each class has a series of questions to ask the other to determine which state they are from. Questions like "Do you have any oceans or major bodies of water that border your state?", and "What are some significant physical features (land forms) in your state?" After taking careful notes on each question each group deduces which state the other is from. Live sessions with other schools create lasting experiences that make learning more effective and a lot of fun. It also provides our students with different perspectives and ideas on locations and events around the world. This encourages our students to think globally. Please visit our Mystery Skype Google Map that records the classes and locations we've visited each week. We hope to grow this map to include every state in our beautiful country, and then expand it to record our experiences abroad.