Collaboration 101
After Mike Fitzgerald wrote his guest blogger piece, In the Classroom: Global Collaboration, I received several inquiries concerning the resources that can facilitate collaborative endeavors. I recently addressed that issue when leading a Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC) Study Group session and thought it would be beneficial to share some of our experiences in the Middle School:
Projects
The International History Detectives is the site Mike created for his World War II project and was designed to ““connect schools from around the world in the collaborative pursuit of history.” To date, students from six countries have shared how their families and communities remember the events of the Second World War. In time, the History Detectives will expand to include other projects, grade levels, and participating schools/countries.
Many Voices for Darfur is the result of a collaborative effort between Mr. Mayo, a language arts teacher from Rockville, Maryland, and Mrs. Drexler, an elementary teacher in Florida who “started this project with their third and eighth grade students to spread awareness about the genocide taking place in Darfur. We invite students all over the world to participate.” We have several advisories who will be creating responses and hope that their voices will make a difference.
ProTechT was developed by Plano, IL educator Scott Smeech and “is an open project for students to explore and promote what it means to be a good “Digital Citizen”, how to use technology ethically, and how to be safe online. We ask the students to help us define these terms for their generation, demonstrate their skills and promote positive use of technology.” At present, we have five advisories participating in the project and hope to expand the concept to the entire 7th grade this fall when we implement our 1:1 Tablet PC program.
Management Tools
You may have noticed that all three of these projects were created using Wikispaces. While there are many wiki tools available, Wikispaces is a popular choice because it is easy to use, ad-free, and they will upload your student user-data upon request. Teachers interested in learning more should visit Wikispaces for Educators.
While Wikispaces is great collaborative tool, it is often desirable and necessary for teachers to communicate in real time. The ProTechT organizers use Skype for a weekly conference call and group chat. Each Sunday evening, one of the ProTechT teachers initiates a call to the other group members and, using the Internet, we have a free VoIP conversation that can include the sharing of links and downloads.
Making Connections
Mike used ePals to locate all of the schools that participated in the History Detectives project. Billed as the world’s largest K-12 connected learning community, ePals connects students and teachers from 200 countries and territories. In addition to being a resource for finding partner-schools, ePals also offers student email, a blogging tool, and other useful features for the classroom.
ProTechT and Many Voices for Darfur came to my attention through Twitter. I’ve written about Twitter before, and it is an invaluable tool for making connections and creating a personal learning network. Just this weekend yet another collaborative opportunity presented itself; creating classroom activities with teachers in New Jersey and New York using Google Earth.
Ning is another great resource for teachers seeking to connect with other schools. I covered the basics of Ning earlier this year, but several new networks have been developed since that post, including The Global Education Collaborative and Digi Teen. Those new to Ning may wish to start with Classroom 2.0 and explore Distance Collaboration.
Lessons Learned Thus Far
Creating and/or participating in collaborative projects is easier than you might imagine, but there are a few things to consider with respect to the resources we’ve utilized:
- Unlike MediaWiki (the tool we use for in-house projects), Wikispaces does not have a Discussion tab. Students seeking “back channel” communication will need to use the mail feature and “spamming” can be a concern, so advise accordingly.
- Because ePals is based on e-mail, it can be difficult to transition participating teachers to a different tool for a project (i.e. Wikispaces) because they may come from an “e-mail mindset.” Stress and demonstrate the benefits of your tool of choice.
- It takes time to build a Twitter network. If you know an established Twitter user, consider asking him/her to reach out on your behalf while you grow your follower/following list.
- Ning networks (and their groups) are only effective if the members are active. Posting to the main page may yield better results because it will reach more people.
- Collaboration does not have to be global to be effective; students can have a meaningful experience with the kids down the hall if the teachers create the opportunity.
Options Abound
For anyone considering a collaborative project, there is certainly no shortage of available resources; these examples barely scratch the surface of what is possible. The key is to craft an idea, reach out, and work through the process with your new-found colleagues. After all, that’s what collaboration is all about!
