Skyping is just the beginning

What will we do now that the swine flu is causing classroom sizes to dwindle significantly? This question was answered in the blog I read, “Learning and H1N1: Students Skyping into Class” by Anne Smith. This article was about how the H1N1 virus is forcing a change in how students are learning today. The virus is causing many students to be absent from the class room resulting in less of a learning experience. As a result of this many teachers are discovering new ways of maintaining contact with students even when they are at home sick. One of the exciting new technologies is called Skyping. Skyping allows students with a webcam and microphone to listen and watch the class from their beds, and students without a webcam to listen and type/text to the class. I believe Skyping is a huge step forward in education. With all the new computers coming out having webcams and microphones, students will never miss another class and teachers won’t have the burden of teaching the information taught in a single class multiple times. Eventually this will probably eliminate days where that entire schools need to be closed due to weather, bomb threats, disease epidemic, and many other problems. The possible future is interesting to think about. In the not to distant future full body images maybe be able to be projected in to students living rooms. These images, called holograms, will someday be affordable to everyone. Imagine an entire class room inside you living room. With technology advancing so quickly, soon enough you will never have to leave your couch again.