Ask The Owls

Ask the Owls is a new service for teachers to connect with students online.   Ask the Owls is set up so that any teacher who has a background in any area can share that knowledge with the world in an online virtual classroom.  Signing up as a teacher will get you the designation of an "owl".  Once you are registered you will need to create a short course description that will be shared with the community.  You will also need to upload your handouts for the course and then schedule a time for the class to meet.  To teach a class you will need a webcam and a microphone.  During the broadcast of your class there is even a chat box so that your "students" can use it while you are presenting.

If you are looking to share your course on Ask the Owls you can choose to keep it private for just your students or you can open it up to the public.  For those of you looking to learn rather than teach you can search the community listings and sign-up for as many courses as you like as long as there is space available (currently the max is 10).

Now What?

Ask the Owls seems to be a great way for teachers to learn some new skills (summer pd?) or share their knowledge with others.  This would also be a great way for someone who is tutoring students outside of school to manage the transportation issues that sometimes get in the way of meeting up in person.