Bringing Experts Into the FCS Classroom - Digitally

Family and consumer sciences education content provides many opportunities to link classroom instruction with business, industry, and community.  Guest speakers have always been a good way to bring community experts face to face with students to present either new information, or to validate skills the students have been learning in class.

Finding a variety of experts and guest speakers can become an issue, especially in smaller communities.  And with budgets tightening all around, many businesses, organizations and agencies don't have staff who can spare the time or travel expense to visit your classroom.  While technology doesn't alleviate all of these issues, it can be used to bring experts to your classroom without added time or expense.

Talk Swap Conference III by jess_mcculloch

http://www.flickr.com/photos/technolote/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Earlier this week on his Free Technology for Teachers blog, Richard Byrne posted "3 Ways, Other than Skype, To Bring Experts to Class."   He described how you can use services such as Present.io, Wetoku, and Vokle, in addition to Skype, to bring content experts to your classroom.  There are sites such as the Skype an Author Network or the MERLOT Virtual Speakers Bureau that provide directories to help teachers find guest speakers. 

What kinds of experts would you bring to your family and consumer sciences classroom as a virtual guest speaker?