Virtual Chatrooms, Valuable for Teachers?

As technology continues to evolve it is opening up new avenues for teachers to communicate.  From blogs, to screen casts, to virtual chats rooms, teachers are now surrounded with a multiple of tools to assist their teaching.  In hopes of gaining insight into using a virtual chat room, I met with classmates Connie Choi and David Crawford on Google Hangouts.  During our session we discussed presentation ideas for our upcoming professional development seminar.  As we shared our thoughts and ideas I was able to experience the ease and comfort of communicating virtually.  I was able to share my presentation plans face to face, as if I was with them at a local coffee shop.  I found Google Hangouts to be an easy tool to operate.  To access it you must first register through your Gmail account for Google+.  A one minute tutorial then provides helpful advice to make navigation easy.  Best of all, it's free!

After my experience with this program I brainstormed ways I could use it as a teacher.  I realized I could meet virtually with parents who are unable to make it to parent-teacher conferences, or collaborate with teachers from neighboring districts to gain ideas and support.  I could also use it to participate in distant professional development seminars wich are too costly to attend.  Finally, I could use this program to differentiate my classroom teaching.  To differentiate my classroom teaching I could expose my students to people from other cultures or job sites.  As my students communicate with people at different locations they would be able to gain perspective into their lives.  I could also use it to allow my students to particpate in a quiz or review session with other 1st grade classrooms.  Competing with another classroom would spark my students' interest and keep them focused.  I would not use this program to communicate directly with students, in order to maintain an appropriate student/teacher boundary.      


This 5th grade class is using Google Hangouts to compete in a science quiz with other classess in their school.

While I found Google Hangouts to be an affordable, accessible, and an effective tool for teachers, what has your experience revealed?  Are there additional ways it could be utilized?  Do you know of a similar program that would offer even more opportunities for teachers to communicate? 

Resources:

Untitled Clip Art.  Live Conferencing. Retreieved from www.blog.live-conferencing.com

5th Grade Class Google Hangouts Session. 2013. WBES Technology. Retreieved from www.wellsbranchtech.edublogs.org