No more sick days?

Unless being bedridden with a dreadful case of the flu, most sick days involve a student simply moseying around the house, snacking on chips and watching a movie or playing video games to pass the time as he or she gets well.  Upon their return to school two days later, they may discovery mounds of homework from their 3 AP classes, as well as the workload from the current day.  It's enough to overwhelm anybody.

These poor students can be helped.  We have rather simple technology these days that teachers can tap into and assist a student's recovery from sickness back into the classroom with unnoticeable ease.  Introducing streaming audio, podcasts, or, even easier: Skype video chat.  "Skype is software that enables the world's conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Everyday, people also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles."

Is the student really playing hooky?  Have him log in to find out. Poor sick Johnny can now pop up on the classroom's TV screen to interact, raise his hand to ask a question, and even speak into a microphone to converse with the other students.  To prevent a student from abusing the system, maybe only a handful of those would be considered excused absences from class.  Don't have a video camera or want to activate one?  Might have to have some stricter attendance rules.  Just listening to the teacher over the speaker isn't too different from sitting in the corner of the class, blindfolded and turned around... which isn't necessarily interactive.

But should we force students and parents to buy such expensive technology like video cameras and broadband internet?  Let's get up to speed with the facts (pun intended).  High-speed internet is becoming more and more necessary and accessible, even in lower income households. The Pew Research Center just reported in June that homes with annual household incomes below $30,000 experienced a 34% growth in home broadband adoption from 2008 to 2009.  Also, what with school supplies, new clothing, and a new iPod and cell phone the student isn't supposed to take to school in the first place, a decent video chat camera these days is hardly a drop in the bucket when only about $25.

Not only could it help students on sick days, it could shift support to the other side of the spectrum for the teachers as well.  Is it virtually impossible for a California history teacher to have a National Museum scholar from D.C. speak to her class?  It used to be.  With Skype, there are many examples cropping up of teachers hosting authoritative and credible guest speakers in their classrooms with this free and easy-to-use software.  Heck, there's even a possibility that the teacher/professor herself can teach from home for a lesson if on a sick day.

All of a sudden, a whole new world is available.  A teacher isn't on the educational battlefield alone anymore; he or she has an arsenal of an endless list of government officials, professionals, research experts, or even motivational guest speakers to augment the day's lesson plans, keeping a class excited and guessing on where they are going and having a say on how they want to learn (almost Montessori-like).  Such exciting technology could make anyone envious of the resources today's youth have in the classroom.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind living high school history class all over again.