Skype in the classroom is a free, global community to help teachers use Skype to help their students learn. It’s a place for teachers to connect, find partner classes and share inspiration, and was created in response to the growing number of teachers using Skype in their classrooms.

Skype in the classroom is a service and technology mash-up that enables teachers to find each other and connect around Skype-based teaching projects. Once they connect, teachers can distribute and discuss teaching tools and ideas, enriching classroom experiences for students who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to those resources. As a direct result of these shared materials, lessons are livelier, students have access to new ideas and people, and teachers benefit from a support network. The design is democratic; the entire project is founded on the principle of leveraging Skype's technology with a service layer that facilitates sharing and connection.

Skype in the classroom has made it possible for 17,000 teachers (and counting!) to bring technology into their classrooms in ways that genuinely bring education to life. Due to budget realities, classrooms tend to be an area where technological change is slow to appear. But because Skype is free to use, Skype in the classroom makes it possible to bring technology and a world of new ideas into classrooms everywhere, at minimal cost.

We put together a video on how Skype in the classroom works, featuring interviews with some of the teachers who use it. To view the video, please visit http://vimeo.com/23578244