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SPANISH FORK -- Julie Pullman's 10th graders and the students in her writing class at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork have been around the world, virtually.
Pullman is among a handful of teachers in Utah who've taken advantage of a relatively new offering by Skype, a network set up to help teachers collaborate on various projects and to let students see and speak with one another across the globe.
The network has been used by foreign language students to speak with native speakers and by teachers to collaborate on various projects. It also allows teachers to schedule guest speakers.
Pullman likes the ability of her students to see and hear the faces of those with whom they speak. Her writing students recently got to meet with a class in California. "And they got to see these kids they're writing to," said Pullman. "It really motivated them," Pullman said in an interview via Skype from her classroom.
Pullman said her 10th graders loved to see the reaction from a group in New York, who couldn't fathom the idea that many of the students here in Utah already had cars. They've involved in a project to learn what it's like to be a 16-year-old at various places around the world, including American Samoa and Australia. Pullman said the Australian class actually held a sleep-over so they could speak with her students.
Pullman said she also recently was added to a group of educators who meet via Skype.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
