I've been skyped!

Skype has to be the coolest thing that has ever been evented! During our class on Thursday night(3/22), we were all able to talk to Mike in Chicago and Tony in Nebraksa at the same time. And we were in Lexington, SC! Even better than that, it was free! It almost felt like we were cheating the phone company:)
This is a neat way to have a conference. The only cost involved is the purchase of a quality microphone. I imagine that this would not be more than a month's long distance phone bill. It would certainly be worth it. I know that many people use cell phones instead of land lines for long distance now, but this is another great alternative.
There are, of course, some disadvantages, but not any more than any other technoogy. You have to schedule a teleconference, and we had to schedule this. The person receiving the call on skype may or may not be close to their computer if they do not anticipate your call. I do not know if skype has voice mail available or not. That would certainly make it even more convenient.
This wonderful technology allowed us to pick the brain of two of the most knowledgeable people on technology in education. We got to ask all of our questions about how to put what we are learning in to practice in our classroom. Not only was it neat to do, it was also helpful. It is always nice to be reminded that those we consider "experts" are just people just like us.