When you are working with a team and trying to brainstorm ideas about a topic/problem, sometimes one or two voices drown out another and ideas get lost. Having team members write down ideas and possible solutions on a sticky note and then posting it on a wall gives the team an opportunity to thoughtfully consider each idea, group and regroup ideas into different categories and time lines, and look for trends and patterns. Here are a few great, FREE, tools that mimic this idea online.
Try these spots to hold discussions and share ideas during brainstorming sessions, meetings, conferences, and classes. Much can be learned and shared by those participating in a discussion, but every voice isn't always heard. With these two free tools, each person has an opportunity to share thoughts, ask questions and be heard.
For actutal document collaboration, Google Docs is a great site. Free accounts allow users to create and invite participation on documents, spreadsheets and drawings. Work is saved on the google docs site and can be accessed from anywhere.
These sites offer you a place to share and store your documents, images, spreadsheets, or projects and have access to them from any internet accessible computer source, even share them between friends.
I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
Woodrow Wilson
A Web 2.0 Class: Students Learn 21st Century Skills, Collaboration, and Digital Citizenship
Christopher Columbus was wrong when he reported to the King and Queen that the world is round. In fact, the world is flat and so are many of our classrooms in this great nation.
For years, students learned within the parameters of a building, which then separated them into rooms. Students would attend class daily and the teacher would present the daily lesson. This is how a school day has progressed for years. And in many US classrooms, it still does. However, this not the case in three high schools in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.
Students in Van Meter, Iowa, Burlington, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are experiencing education in a new room. Yes, they still go to class in a building, with walls, doors, and windows, but there is something different about these three classrooms. They are all connected. The classroom is flat.