Viewing the World from your Classrooms

There are so many resources out there for teachers, students and parents that will offer more authentic experiences in the classrooms and at home. While I do not yet have my own classroom, as a substitute,  I get to experience a multitude of teaching techniques every week. What has surprised me is the lack of technology use. Looking at these resources, I would love to use the EarthCam tool and let my students see different areas of the planet streaming live into the classroom. It would be amazing to have students travel to the African Safari and see streaming footage of a watering hole all day while they work! This also allows you to view local cameras to check weather, traffic and historical places, a tool I would use when studying weather or use in a morning meeting.
What I also found amazing was that there is sound accompanying the webcams. I specifically like one of the African Web Cams, watching it at night also allows you to HEAR the activity even if no animals are in sight, you can hear crickets and frogs etc...maybe some birds or monkeys in there too.

http://www.mysound.uconn.edu/

Because I am intrigued by the idea of real time viewing experiences, I saw the Long Island Sound Web Cam and remembered my numerous field trips to the sound throughout the years. To prepare these trips, how amazing would it have been to prepare for this trip by checking in daily and gaining an understanding of tides, conditions, sights and sounds of the Sound? You gain prior knowledge that you can take on the trip as a class and make this an even more meaningful trip where students can delve deeper into the content because they already know the basics. I find that I am drawn to these types of web sources, although I love the content based sites as well, these experiences offer an opportunity to view sites that they may never see in person.