Skype. Which schools use it and why

[Dos_Box]

Just a bit of research this. I would like to find out just what schools are allowing staff (or even pupils) to use it, what features they use it for, and any measures they have in place to restrict facilities on it. This is in light of the UKERNA\JANET report where Skype access is down to the RBCs decision on how to handle it.

[Ric_]

I thought that we were only allowed to use it on a very restricted basis - i.e. disabling it when not 'on the phone' and only using it for educational purposes.

 

Don't use it at all at work though.

[Dos_Box]

We are to produce 'guidelines' for schools.

[MkII]

Powys intend to use it in some form but we're still at planning stage.

[Michael]

I use it at home all the time to talk with relatives abroad. I did mention it to my LEA sometime back, but never had a response. It could save a lot of money in theory, but problem is I can never really see it taking off in the Enterprise market for fear of security problems or I suppose excessive bandwidth costs if lots of users were talking simultaneously.

[Dos_Box]

One problem we have noted is similar to that of mobile phones in schools. If we were to let pupils have access to the telephony side of things how can you be sure who they are talking too?

[Ric_]

@Dos_Box: Why allow the little darlings to 'chat' in school. They are there to learn, not socialise!

 

If you are instructing them on new means of communication, surely a demonstration to the class by the teacher (maybe a conversation with a foreign school?) should suffice.

[GrumbleDook]

On of the problems that is inherent with IM or group communication tools in schools is that people like the idea of the technology but don't have an application for it educationally.

 

A walled garden for communication within the school is not a bad thing. It can be very good when used and monitored correctly. There is one schools I know in Solihull that has "home learning" days ...where a particular year group stay at home for the day and complete certain tasks based on materials written by their subject teachers.

 

Presently they use mobiles to allow students to ring in and ask questions but Skype is a perfect solution for them.

 

The idea of using IM to facilitate communication between student and teacher is something else that is possible ... a group IM session that is left open for the whole lesson and students can ask questions, have them answered by the teacher and other students can look back at questions already answered and pick out the bits relevant to them.

 

I am still getting staff used to the idea first ... and getting some students involved with peer-support done electronically ...

[Dos_Box]

@Dos_Box: Why allow the little darlings to 'chat' in school. They are there to learn, not socialise!

 

If you are instructing them on new means of communication, surely a demonstration to the class by the teacher (maybe a conversation with a foreign school?) should suffice.

 

We quite like the video conferance facilities, but we must ensure schools ARE awawre of the problems that Skype may give them, which is why we are ensuring that schools have a well thought out guide to the uses, configuartion and security aspects of it.

[mighty]

We have used it to talk to schools in brasil worked well and are looking for more schools

[OutToLunch]

We're using it on the admin side quite heavily here but only for the IM features - not installed on any student machines.

[solitaire89]

We are in the process of setting it up for SMT and for some of the admin girls. We're linked with several schools abroad, and it's a lot cheaper than the phone bill. As for the admin girls, I don't have an extn in my room, and they call my mobile at the moment, so again another cost saving exercise.

[Domino]

errr - is this the free version we're talking about?

End User License Agreement

 

2.1 License: Subject to the terms of this Agreement, Skype hereby grants You a limited, personal, non-commercial, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-assignable, free of charge license to download, install and use the Skype Software on Your computer

 

Do skype have a policy for schools? cause the 'personal' caveat in that would imply to me that they wouldn't really approve....

 

Also you can't use it as a full replacement in schools because there's no access to emergency services as they can't use number location to find where you're calling from.

[pete]

We've used it in the past to talk with schools in other countries, but it is a case of "restrict access, setup and then remove when activity is over".

 

My concern as a sysadmin is it's an encrypted, undocumented network protocol written by people who design p2p apps for a living and it's owned by the world largest flea market.

[russdev]

We use the commercial version of the skype app on here. staff only have access to and on limited machines. Used to talk to schools abroad etc.

 

Russ

[webman]

@Dos_Box: Why allow the little darlings to 'chat' in school. They are there to learn, not socialise!

 

Yes, let's ban them from talking to each other during break and lunch times!

[Arcath]

the nursery in one of my schools wanted to video call another local nursery, i tested it all and it works but they never used it.

 

I only installed skype on the IWB machine in the nursery and none of the other machines have it on. I can never see primary schools wanting it on all of the machines, the only use i can see for it education is to talk to other schools.

[dhicks]

We use the commercial version of the skype app on here.

 

Ooh - I didn't realise Skype did a bsuiness version. There's a proper MSI and a control panel and everything!

 

--

David Hicks

[DaveMurphy]

I must admit Skype was a major God send during the 'snow' period, saved even leaving the house and didn't affect the phone bill!

[Arthur]

Ooh - I didn't realise Skype did a bsuiness version. There's a proper MSI and a control panel and everything!

The Skype MSI is really good. Just make sure you disable the "supernode" feature and update check before it's deployed though. The MST we use is attached.

 

Edit. After reading the recommendations in section 5 of this Skype security paper I have updated my MST.

Skype.mst

Skype.zip

Edited February 26, 2010 by Arthur

[mbedford]

Just a word of warning form someone who has just struggled with Skype in our environment.

 

We are running Microsoft Threat Management Gateway 2010 (TMG2010) as our Web Filter and Firewall (ISA2006 repalcement)

 

Skype primarily uses P2P technology to connect and communicate with other users. Part of this means that it quite happily uses a random port to connect to the IP address of the client which you are communicating with. Obviously you can tell Skype in the settings to only use a specific port but still a firewall rule has to be created to allow that port access to any IP address external to your network.

 

To get around this, Skype can 'fall back' to using HTTPS over port 443. This is where our problem arises.

 

TMG2010 has has a nifty ability to inspect HTTPS traffic to ensure that it is what it says it is. Obviously Skype isnt true HTTPS traffic, therefore TMG blocks it.

 

You can disable the HTTPS inspection, but this means that in TMG you are also disabling the filtering of all HTTPS web traffic, so its possible to access blocked sites, for example http://HTTP://playboy.com is blocked as pornography, but http://HTTPS://playboy.com is accessible. Not the best really!

 

Its my opinion that Skype is not suitable for anything other than personal, home use. In a corporate or educational environment where the protection of data and\or the protection of minors is paramount, Skype is a pain in the back side!

 

I did a little readingon this subject a few weeks back, the following article caught my eye:

 

Becta Article - See Issues Section

Becta Emerging Technologies - Network and wireless analysis: Voice over IP (VoIP) (March 2009)

 

Thanks

Mike

[garethEds]

Just a bit of research this. I would like to find out just what schools are allowing staff (or even pupils) to use it, what features they use it for, and any measures they have in place to restrict facilities on it. This is in light of the UKERNA\JANET report where Skype access is down to the RBCs decision on how to handle it.

 

Spoke to my contact at the LEA today and this was their response:

 

As a service, we’ve evaluated the use of skype and unfortunately we are unable to implement it. This is because of a variety of reasons including :

 

· Implementation is an ‘all or nothing’ scenario – it cannot be tied down to just teachers or schools.

· There are security implications in using this service (i.e. super-node may allow penetration of the network by unauthenticated users). This is not helped by skype using its own security protocols which are closed so cannot be assessed.

· The way that it uses it connects using a delegated super-node may have inadverse impact on the network / clients which are participating in it (as it uses super-nodes to connect)

 

We should, however, be implementing Microsoft Office Communications Server in the near future, which will allow us the granularity of using chat protocols with the teachers etc.

 

Hope this helps somewhat,

 

Gareth

[glennda]

we use skype portable for our AHT's to interact with the Kenya Schools Project guys that are based in Kenya alot cheaper for us and also cheaper for them as they have limited funds in the first place!

 

And we use skype portable with a little XML file that logs them in under the school account - easy to set up and even easier to deploy - just give execute permissions to the teachers that need to use it and email them a link to the .exe

[GrumbleDook]

We had a really good example of Skype use in one of our schools recently.

 

The school is next door to a graveyard and the wireless network can be used in part of the graveyard ... and this proved to be really handy for one school project. They had been to see The Lion King in London and it was used as the core theme for a number of pieces of work (more information at NThink- Just another weblog) but part of it had included the pupils writing alternative endings or re-writing key scenes. These were used as part of an 'African Showcase' and ...

some of the class wrote spooky settings about hiding from Scar in the local graveyard. As part of the showcase it was decided that these settings would be read out, we wanted the audience to get a true understanding of what the graveyard was like so this is where Skype came in!

 

During the show several children crept out to the graveyard with a laptop, webcam and teaching assistant. Since the graveyard is so close to school it was covered by our wireless network so the children were able to connect to Skype and call a laptop in the hall that was linked to a projector. During the show the children in the graveyard ‘Skyped’ the children and parents in the hall and then read their settings on the big screen. It proved very popular with both the children and parents.

 

Quite a good idea really and other ideas have included a virtual visit from Santa, bringing in specialists who might not be able to visit the school, author interviews, etc.

 

There are other solutions that can do this (Click2Meet, FlashMeeting, JANET Video Conferencing Service) but Skype is a quick and easy way of doing it I suppose.

[_Bat_]

I assume you all saw that this thread was from four years ago?