Tools for Collaboration

Collaboration is a skill we want our students to learn, whether it's collaborating face-to-face in a group or online. Many times students will start a project in class, then need to finish it as homework. Collaborating online allows them to work from home, assuming that they have Internet and a computer at home. There are so many options using Web 2.0 resources. Michelle and I wrote an article about Using Web Tools for Student Publishing: Tools for Collaborating, in which we shared several of these online tools.

Students aren't the only ones who can benefit from online collaboration. Teachers can use these tools to share lesson plans, conduct parent conferences online, create online courses, online book discussions, tutor a sick child at home, conduct teacher meetings, sharing classroom calendars, collaborative online problem solving, and more.

Here are some additional online collaboration tools that teachers and students can use for free.

• Create lists with Gubb and ZOHO Planner.
• Wiggio, Glide Free, and Famundo have calendars that can be shared. Famundo even allows families to add your classroom calendar to their own Famundo family calendar.  It updates on their calendar whenever you add an event to your classroom calendar.
• ZOHO Planner and Glide Free have image and video upload capabilities.
• Share your desktop with Yugma, Dimdim, and vYew.
• Group conference calls or chatrooms can be made with Wiggio, Yugma, Dimdim and vYew.
• Most of these programs also allow document sharing.