November 16, 2014
What is Mystery Skype?
Mystery Skype is a quick way to get people talking positively about technology and your classroom. Some people now call this Mystery Location Call. This is because some classrooms use Facetime, Google Hangout, or even video conferencing. There are so many ways to connect now!
Whatever you call it, Mystery Skype is one of the easiest ways to connect globally and start on your journey of collaborating globally on a massive scale. It is simple enough that every single teacher can do it.
How Do Classrooms Use Mystery Skype?
- Geography lessons – guess where the other person is located
- Environmental Science – comparing the environments in different areas of the world
- Cultural Studies – eating, hobbies, religions, cultural differences
- History– comparing historical accounts and textbooks from various locations in the world
- Math– compare how you work the same math problems in different places in the world?
- Audience – To do show and tell or share other student work.
How Do I Started with Mystery Skype?
7 Step Guide by Craig Kemp. Craig Kemp has written a super simple guide to get started.
Read Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds. This is one of the many ways we encourage you to collaborate in the book I co-authored, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds. It is often just enough to get everyone excited in your school. Then, doors are opened for other exciting things to happen.
Read Connecting Your Students with the World. Another fantastic resource to get you started on global collaboration is Connecting Your Students with the World by Jerry Blumengarten, Paula Naugle, and Billy Krakower. They have a whole chapter on how to structure Mystery Skype's and do them with ease.
VIF Learning Center came across my radar as a sponsor of an episode of Every Classroom Matters. They did not pay or compensate me in any way to include them in this post.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.