What the Tech... Skyping in the Classroom?

Whenever a TV series episode starts in an elementary school classroom, I get nervous, especially when the TV series is not about elementary school and about solving crimes. This was the case when I was watching "Castle" a few years ago, and I braced myself emotionally for the impending catastrophe. But as it turned out, the youngsters were merely witnesses to a crime instead of its victims. This is because they witnessed the murder of a supposed explorer to Antarctica while interfacing with the person via a video conference. Such an experience is not ideal in any classroom, but the episode got me thinking about the possibilities of using Skype and other video-calling tools to enrich a school curriculum and the students' learning.
A key advantage to using these tools in the classroom would be the connection that the students would make between the academic material they are learning about and life outside the classroom. For example, they could interview with professionals in a variety of fields who would show how academic knowledge is implemented into the everyday workings of their careers and demonstrate its importance. Another advantage would be that these communications could help students begin thinking about future careers, which is especially important for high school students and students of lower socioeconomic status. An insider's understanding of the job would help them determine the importance of going to college, and would motivate them on a college preparation path in high school. The more obvious in-class benefit is simply getting to know about areas of interest to the topic and the class without having to bring a speaker into the class setting or having to move the class to where the speaker is. This makes it possible for the class to follow a world explorer and see live images of interesting sites (if they are not providing fake services, of course), or to interact with political figures or writers or scientists from around the world. Some important drawbacks would be the time invested in preparing for a video conference, the availability of the guests of choice, and last-minute cancellations. Teachers must also consider that a speaker whom they are not familiar with might not make an engaging presentation, or the material might be presented in a way that is too complex for them to understand. There is also the ever-present concern of the speaker behaving appropriately (or of being shot live).
I find this avenue intriguing, and would be willing to use it to help provide the above-mentioned advantages to my students. I would be very excited to use it in a language arts or writing class, by having the students speak with a writer whose work is of interest to the students or is being studied in class. They could discuss story content, writing techniques, story line ideas, careers in writing, the many component's of a professional writer's professional life, the importance of research, and many other topics. I think it would make the class content come alive for the students, and it would provide real-life material that could be referred back to as an example of concepts that are presented in class.