This week, eleven South African teachers, are attending the E2 Education Exchange in Singapore. This prestigious conference brings together over 300 innovative teachers from around the world to share their best practices and to learn more about how to use Microsoft technologies in the Classroom.

Phuti Ragophala, a Microsoft Fellow and passionate advocate of using technology to enhance teaching and learning, was selected to present a session on how she uses Skype to break down the walls and bring the world into the classroom at E2. 

Phuti says: “After retiring from being a school principal at Pula Madibogo Primary School in Limpopo I recognized a digital gap amongst youth and educators in my community. From my home I am able to access many schools nationally and internationally to share innovative ways of learning and teaching using free Microsoft resources like Skype”.

Through leveraging the power of Skype, Phuti has been a guest speaker to a class in Texas; she has spoken to children at the KAKUMA refugee camp in Kenya; and she has presented at Microsoft events and webinars. Phuti has also used Skype to be part of global collaborative projects on climate action and supporting victims of sexual abuse. 

Phuti leverages Skype in the Classroom resources to provide opportunities for children in her area to travel virtually beyond the dusty streets of Limpopo. Phuti and her learners have been part of a collaborative project with Middle school Zweetle in Austria; they have taken a virtual field trip to Florida to study turtles; they have played the Mystery Skype game with a class in the Ukraine; and they have discussed water problems with another MIE Expert’s class in Japan. 

Whilst Skype is a powerful tool to connect classrooms and teachers with friends in other countries, there is still power in face-to-face opportunities to meet people from other countries. At a previous Microsoft Global Forum, Phuti and USA teacher Julie Hembree shared stories about their respective schools. Julie was so touched by the lack of resources at Pula Madibogo that she organised book collections to be able to send reading materials to South Africa. She then listened to the Limpopo learners read to her via Skype and finally traveled to South Africa to meet them in person and to see Phuti’s school first hand.

We are sure that Phuti and the other South African teachers who are attending E2 in Singapore are busy making teacher-friends from across the world. We look forward to hearing how the E2 delegates are going to leverage these friendships and shared love for using technology in the classroom to set up collaborative projects in the future. We are sure that whatever they do, Skype will play a role in ensuring that teachers from different countries will be able to stay in touch virtually after the conference. 

To learn more about Skype in the Classroom – and to get your class involved in Mystery Skypes, Virtual Field Trips and Skype-a-Thons join the Microsoft Educator Community.