Webcasting in the classroom requires several skills. This was our first webcast for the year and I was so pleased with the way the students handled all the jobs. We first researched information about Dr. Roper then developed questions. The questions were prioritized and then arranged in a logical pattern that would keep the interview interesting.

For the webcast, each student had a role. Some of the roles included monitoring the chat room for questions, welcoming people into the chat room, question navigator (someone to queue the questions), photographer, and each had an opportunity to ask questions. The students learned that during the interview, they had to be able to multitask. They had to ask a question, listen to the answer, respond if necessary, read the questions in the chat room, and then determine the next question based on his response and the activity in the chatroom. It's a bit more difficult than it appears!

We connected with Dr. Roper using our science classroom's Skype account and I was able to webcast from my computer which showed the video of Dr. Roper. Each student received a 'webcasting badge' for their own blog.