Skyping in the Classroom

My senior year in high school I had the opportunity to be part of our year's Japanese exchange group.  In school our Japanese teacher had arranged a way for the Japanese and American students to get to know one another better before the exchange actually happened.  Our teacher was able to set up a few sky video calls which allowed both the American and Japanese students to become more familiar and comfortable with talking to each other.  I think that was a great way to use Skype in the classroom.  Skypin in the classroom can be used in other similar ways.  Skyping could be used to explore parts of the world that students cannot go see on their own, for example, it can be used as a virtual field trip were students can see landmarks in other countries.  Students can also talk to students from other parts of the world so that students can learn about each other's cultures.  Lastly, students can also talk to guess speakers who are unable to physically be in their classroom.  These are all positive outcomes that Skyping in the classroom can have and ways that I would consider using in my future classroom.  Some of the biggest drawbacks that Skyping has is the need for a fast and reliable internet connection on both sides of the Skype call as well as the lack of control from the opposite end of the call.