Collaboration

=In today’s business environment, companies are looking to hire employees that work well in a team environment. By teaching students how to work cooperatively, listen to one another and provide constructive criticism, they will be better equipped with the skills to succeed in their future occupations. =

Essentially, teachers are being asked to go “above & beyond” with their students. Let’s watch the video below to see this idea in action. The video was created by **The Partnership for 21st Century Skills** (a Thinkfinity affiliate) and FableVision. It is just one depiction of how an activity could fuse the four Cs.

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** Google ** provides numerous Web 2.0 applications. It allows students to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and forms. The documents, spreadsheets and forms work in a very similar format to Microsoft Office products but require students to create a Google account. The following video provides an interesting perspective from a school that integrated Google’s applications in hopes of improving student performance

Schedule an Event

 * **Doodle**- easy scheduling free of charge and without registration ; simply set up a poll, send a link to all participants, watch progress //online//, and finally choose the best date and time.
 * **[|Clockshare]**- a Web-based online calendar that manages your schedule and shared resources. Sync appointments with friends and colleagues, schedule appointments with local businesses, and much more.

Social Bookmarking -
a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Many online bookmark management services have launched since 1996; **Delicious **, founded in 2003, popularized the terms "social bookmarking" and "tagging." Tagging is a significant feature of social bookmarking systems, enabling users to organize their bookmarks in flexible ways and develop shared vocabularies known as folksonomies.

**Social Bookmarking in Plain English**
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[[file:Social Bookmarking--7 things to know.pdf]]by Educause

 * **[|Portaportal]**- a web based bookmarking utility that lets you store links to your favorite websites online so that your bookmarks are not longer limited to any one computer.
 * **Delicious **- helps you find cool stuff and collect it for easy sharing. Dig into stacks created by the community, and then build your own!
 * **Diigo**- an acronym from "Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other" stuff.
 * Online bookmarking
 * Highlighter and sticky notes
 * Group-based collaborative research
 * Personal learning network
 * Collect and organize anything; access anywhere and easily share
 * **I Keep Bookmarks**- allows you to upload, and keep your bookmarks on the web for free. They can be accessed from anywhere at any time.
 * **Symbaloo -** design your personal Internet desktop using bookmark tiles.
 * **SymbalooEDUSite**- a personal Internet desktop created especially for educators.

**An Introduction to Diigo for Educators**
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Notetaking -

 * Corkboard Me** - simple, collaborative notetaking.
 * Wallwisher **- a tool to build a powerful wall with favorite bookmarks, notice boards, discussions, friends, teaching items, keeping notes, brainstorming, planning events, and more.
 * Evernote **- capture anything, make notes, and access from anywhere.

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Study Together -
OpenStudy- ask questions, give help, and connect with over 100,000 students from 170 countries and 1,600 schools.

Storytelling -

 * [|Storybird]**- a collaborative storytelling site that allows you to choose from hundreds of lovely images and characters (graphics, watercolors, etc). You can create an account and quickly and easily browse story art, drag-and-drop the images, create a story with their beautiful pictures, and send it to friends.

Bulletin Boards

 * Pinterest** - a virtual bulletin board (infographic) for social networking.
 * The Teachers Quick Guide to Pinterest**
 * Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education**
 * 16 Ways Teachers Are Using Pinterest**

PDF Editor -
**[|PDF Escape]** - offers free online editing of PDFs. The program includes the following:

//**PDF Reader**// //** PDF online Editor **// //** Free PDF Form Filler **// //** Free PDF Form Designer **//
 * Open PDF documents natively in your web browser
 * Rotate & zoom PDF pages to preferred viewing style
 * Select text and copy PDF content to your clipboard
 * Search PDF text for terms & keywords with ease
 * Save, download, & print PDF documents
 * PDF thumbnail, bookmark, & link support
 * Add text, shapes, whiteout & more to PDF files
 * Move, delete, & insert PDF pages
 * Create links to other PDF pages or web content
 * Change PDF information tags
 * Encrypt PDF contents using a password
 * Add images to PDF files
 * Sign PDF documents using your scanned signature
 * Fill out PDF forms using existing form fields or use text tool
 * PDF text, checkbox, radio, list, and drop down fields supported
 * Essential PDF field calculation and formatting supported
 * Basic PDF field styling properties supported
 * Quickly tab from field to field
 * Add new PDF form fields to any PDF file
 * Style PDF form fields (font, size, color, etc)
 * Modify existing PDF form fields

Creating Online Groups -
a method for teachers, administrators, parents/guardians, students (age 13+) to connect globally with educational learning communities
 * **Classroom 2.0**- an active social network built with **Ning** that invites educators interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies to connect and discuss issues together. If you are interested, sign up to join this network and take some time to explore some of the discussions occurring in the forums.
 * **Edutopia Community Groups**- welcomes all teachers, administrators, parents, and others who are passionate about improving education. Please review the Community [|Principles] and [|Guidelines] before participation.
 * **Intel Engage Community** - the Teachers Engage section is the main hub for the community and where you will find general discussions and resources focusing on effective uses of technology in the K-12 classroom.
 * **ePals Global Community**- world's largest K-12 social learning network.
 * Collaborate with classrooms in 200 countries
 * Give students safe communication tools
 * Get resources from Smithsonian and National Geographic

Survey and Polling Tools -
>
 * **[|SurveyMonkey]** - a free survey site where you can select from over a dozen types of questions (multiple choice, rating scales, drop-down menus, and more..). Options allow you to require answers to any question, control the flow with custom skip logic, and even randomize answer choices to eliminate bias. Distribute survey or poll via email or your own website.
 * **[|Easy-Poll]** - free surveys and polls for your webpage, wiki, or blog. Choose your colors and style. No ads.
 * **[|PollDaddy]** - free flash poll widget for blogs and websites.
 * **[|Poll Everywhere]** - (fee-based) is a Web based **polling** service that allows users to submit votes via SMS, the web, and Twitter. Results can be instantly integrated into Powerpoint.

Online File Storage for Collaboration -
personal file storage services are aimed at private individuals, offering a sort of "network storage" for personal backup, file access, or file distribution. Users can upload their files and share them publicly or keep them password-protected.


 * [|Dropbox]** - a Web-based file hosting service operated by //Dropbox, Inc.// that uses networked storage to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization.

**Dropbox Tutorial**
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 * [|LiveBinders]** - your 3-ring binder for the web. Collect your resources, organize them neatly, and make an impression. Check out these videos to help you learn how to use LiveBinders for yourself and collaborate with others.
 * **[|LiveBinders Overview]** - a brief overview of LiveBinders
 * **[|Bookmark While you Browse]** - add "LiveBinder It" to your browser toolbar so that you can build binders while you browse
 * **[|Tabs and Subtabs]** - an overview of adding and moving around tabs and subtabs in your binders
 * **[|Binder on the Desktop]** - how to drag a binder to the desktop for applications like the computer lab
 * **[|Binder Cover]** - how to change your binder cover
 * **[|Upload Files]** - how to upload files (.pdf, .jpg, .doc) to your binder
 * **[|Delicious Bookmarks]** - how to import Delicious bookmarks into a binder
 * **[|Collaboration]** - how to set up collaboration in LiveBinders
 * **[|Create Shelves]** - how to make your own shelves for organizing binders from anywhere