For kindergartners, communication is just a hop, Skype and jump away

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. - Among the nearly 20 pupils in her Marrs Elementary School kindergarten class, Reece Bowen was the only one who had previously used Skype, the Internet video service that allows users to talk face-to-face over their computers.

The experience was new to everyone else one recent afternoon as Regina Russell's class at Marrs communicated via Skype with a sixth-grade class at Mount Vernon Junior High School, about eight miles away, for Digital Learning Day.

The effort came from the Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon encouraging staff to "Try One New Thing!" in educational technologies. The event is a nationwide movement that celebrates innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a personalized educational experience.

Russell's students instantly perked up in their seats and leaned around one another to get a good look at Julie Kissinger's sixth-grade class, where students read "The Little Mouse, The Red-Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear" by Don Wood and used a puppet to enhance the reading. Also, the two classrooms "shared" trays of sugared strawberries.

Bowen, 6, who often plays "Starfall" on her home computer and sometimes reads book online, said, "I had fun, because there were strawberries."

Russell said using technology for learning, like the long-distance learning with Skype, is a real-life experience for her students because they often see their parents using technology such as iPads, computers and smartphones.

"You can access so much information so quickly," she said. "And so really it keeps their attention and works with the real word much better, and it keeps them engaged because it's geared for a lot of games, which gives them an opportunity to practice over and over."

Russell said sometimes technology has glitches and when used for teaching lessons, the plan may not go as intended, but for learning, the positives outweigh the few negatives.

Ashlyn Crow, 6, doesn't have a computer at home, but plays a variety of three video games. "I liked Skyping because it's so exciting, and I've never done it before," she said.

Russell hopes she can continue using Skype with other local schools, and perhaps across cultures by Skyping with her niece, who lives in China.

Marrs Principal Greg DeWeese said at his K-5 school the third- and fourth-graders all use iPads for lessons, and the fifth-graders will be included next year.

"It is such a digital world for these kids now," DeWeese said. "And to have these kinds of experiences, these kids are learning to use technology that we didn't even dream of ... The things those teachers do on iPads will blow your mind. It is so much fun to watch what they do."

William Stein, director of technology for the school district, said he promoted trying something new to all skill levels. Stein said about 16 different products were being used throughout the district Wednesday, including Google Docs, a "PowerPoint on steroids" called "Prezi," and "Blabberize," which is a program used to upload a picture, attach a moving mouth and send a message.

"Think about it, if the kids upload pictures of the different planets, put a mouth on it, then they can record themselves talking about the properties of the planets," Stein said. "We feel like digital technology really engages the students and kind of gets that kid in the back row who might be falling asleep, really gets him interested, and that's why we think it is important."

Stein said technology is important to engage students and prepare them for their college and career.

"We like to think in our district that every day is Digital Learning Day, but every once in a while you need to kind of reboot yourself and try something brand new," he said. "We feel like using something new like this will lead to other things down the road."