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Skype in the Classroom Expands Resources with Addition of New Partners

• By Leila Meyer
• 05/31/12

Skype in the Classroom, a free online community providing educational enrichment opportunities for teachers and students, has announced new collaborations with Penguin Group, New York Philharmonic, Peace One Day, Save the Children, and Science Museum, London. According to a press release from Skype, these new collaborations will provide teachers and students with access to educational resources and opportunities to participate in video chats with expert speakers.

"Skype in the Classroom is excited to collaborate with stellar, like-minded organizations to bring relevant content directly to innovative teachers who are looking to create unforgettable shared learning experiences for their students," said Tony Bates, president of the Skype Division at Microsoft in a prepared statement.

Existing partners with Skype in the Classroom are the 86400 Movement and Microsoft, Skype's parent company. According to the Skype in the Classroom site, the service currently offers an archive of more than 1,800 projects and 645 resources. Teachers can explore them by age group, language, expert type, and subject.

"We are dedicated to making education accessible via technology and will continue to look for ways to remove barriers to communications and connect to classrooms across the globe," added Bates.

New additions to Skype in the Classroom include:

• Penguin Young Readers Group will offer the opportunity to participate in video chats about books, reading, and writing with authors such as Adam Gidwitz, Caroline Lawrence, and Nancy Krulik;
• New York Philharmonic will offer video chats with musicians and educators, the first of which will look at composer Aaron Copeland's 1939 ballet about Billy the Kid;
• Peace One Day Global Education Resources will enable registered teachers to use Skype to access their resources;
• Peace One Day Global Education Resources will also offer students the opportunity to participate in a video chat with Jeremy Gilley, founder of Peace One Day, about his work to institutionalize World Peace Day, which takes place annually on September 21; and
• Save the Children and the Science Museum, London will have Skype in the Classroom projects available by the end of the year.

More than 28,000 teachers in 190 countries are currently members of Skype in the Classroom. Teachers can sign up for free and find additional information at education.skype.com.