The use of Skype in education will be the focus of ABC TV’s Born to Explore this Sunday as it’s used to broadcast a live dinosaur dig in Mantua Fossil Heritage Site in New Jersey conducted by palaeontologist, Dr. Ken Lacovara. “From an explorer or naturalist’s standpoint, the whole technology revolution has been great for us,” said Wiese about the incorporation of technology in the scientific process. “Through the magic of technology like Skype and Bing everyone can be an explorer.”
Through Microsoft’s collaboration with the team at “Born to Explore”, not only was Skype used in this episode but so was Bing and several Microsoft Surface devices. “The ability to interact with students in real time via Skype in the Classroom has been so exciting,” added Wiese. “We were able to turn a page in a 65 million-year-old history book and make dinosaurs come to life. The chance to be a part of the dig team is a rare opportunity.”
Naturally there are numerous other streaming services that could have been used to broadcast the dig to a wider, more public audience but for broadcasting video to a select target audience, Skype has quickly become one of the most popular programs to use.
