EDIT 2000

Communication & Collaboration

NETS Standard

K-12 learners are using digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. They:

1. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
2. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
3. Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
4. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

Considering this portrait of 21^st century learners, how can a teacher engage learners with technology and still make sure students understand shapes, the causes of the Civil War, parts of speech, and the phases of the moon? Don’t forget...you also have to differentiate, be culturally responsive, make sure materials are accessible to all students and a host of other expectations. Can technology help or hinder the process of communication and collaboration in K-12 learning environments?

In the Digital Age, we have many tools available to support communication and collaboration.

• Edmodo
• Flickr
• Google Chat
• Google Presentations
• Prezi
• Skype
• Storybird
• Twitter
• Wallwisher
• Watchitoo

Speaking of tools, blogs are a great classroom tool for communicating with students. You can visit the website every day or you can add the RSS feed to your reader and stay up to date about announcements and class re-caps. I use Blogger, because it has a number of user-created themes that let me customize the look and feel of the site. I've worked faculty to set-up WordPress, because they liked the ease of use. Of course, there are non-academic uses of blogs and there are blogs for just about any subject you can imagine.

Another great collaboration tool is a wiki. If you chose to add collaborators to your Google Site, it could be considered a wiki. Check out how CommonCraft explains wikis "in plain English."




Twitter is another tool for communicating. It's used in all sorts of ways. Some companies use it in a technical support and customer service capacity. Bands use it to communicate about upcoming shows, talk about gigs, and give away free stuff to their fans. I use it to remind you about assignments and deadlines. Check out how some Texas schools will be using Twitter and other social tools in the classroom. Keep in mind, however, that the power to broadcast your message so quickly and openly comes at a price. CommonCraft also has a video on Twitter...



Another tool to let you record or listen to audio from a class, event, or speech is a podcast. If it includes video, it is technically a vodcast. A quick search of iTunes will turn up a host of topics with podcasts, both for free and at a fee. Again, CommonCraft breaks it down, "in plain English."



Obviously there are many more tools than we have time to cover. A great place to search for free tools is Go 2 Web 2.0. Exploring under the “kids,” “collaboration,” and/or “communication” tabs on this site will show additional tools you might want to think about using for your first TLAT activity.

For Tuesday

1. Select one of the tools listed above that you would like to explore in-depth. Use Twitter to send me the name of your selection.
2. Spend some time exploring your selected tool and think about how you would explain this tool to someone else.
3. Think about how you'll create a commercial about your selected tool. What are its features? Why would a teacher, parent, administrator, resource teacher, and/or student use it?
4. Download Jing to your home computer before Thursday. Then, watch the short video tutorial.