Valerie Becker, tech teacher at West Tisbury School on Martha's
Vineyard, remembers a youngster whose parents had gone "off island"
and the child not having any idea what that meant.

Valerie, an Apple Distinguished Educator, over the past two years has
taken her students off island: No ferry or boat needed for the journey,
just Skype software, an internet connection and a webcam and microphone.

Her students, aged 6 through 8, recently finished the "Islands Around
the World" project in which they studied other islands, including, Hong
Kong, Japan, the Orkneys off Scotland and New Zealand, and then Skype
video called children in these faraway places.

There were some sacrifices. The Kiwi kids had to come into school an
hour early-the next day-and the West Tisbury kids had to stay after
school an hour.

Valerie said Skype video calling brings the contact with students in
other countries alive.

She said her students found they had much in common with the other
students, including enjoying "rabbit ears." (Watch for Valerie doing
rabbit ears on the video.)

Her 7th grade students worked on their school paper with mentor/editors
from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan via Skype video.

Last year, the Martha's Vineyard students met via Skype video calling
with students whose schools were in other states or countries. This
project included Skype calls to Alaska and Hawaii as well as Argentina,
Iceland, Japan and New Zealand.

What's up for next year? Valerie and her students will be visiting farm
communities around the world.