GlobalCollaboration

Some educators would like to create global collaboration projects. This page is an attempt to bring together the tools necessary for such a project.

=Examples:= The Flat Classroom Project, created by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay is an excellent, successful, ongoing project that harnesses collaboration tools to bring students together to investigate/solve global issues. It's an excellent model to build upon. Their most recent project for 2011 has some design features to examine and from which to learn.

=Connections= IEARN-USA The Global Education Collaborative The Global Education Conference Live from the Middle East (The interactive web event from Learn Central with educators from **Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Morocco**. They discussed the political changes taking place in the Middle East, the impact of technology on both politics and education, and student-to-student interactions worldwide. A recording of the event is available on the website.) =The Content=

Developing the Questions and Areas of Investigation
What is the purpose of the project? What are the outcomes? What learning do you want to make sure takes place. These should guide your selection of topics and guiding questions.

Workflow
How long is your project? What are the due dates? List them on a page in your wiki.

Rubrics
Example from the Flat Classroom

Tools
Use a table in Wikispaces, embed a spreadsheet from Google Docs, and/or use Rubistar to customize an existing rubric to fit your project.

=The Tools=

The Glue - a Wiki
A wiki is the backbone of the project. It allows you to not only host content and media on webpages, but allows for conversation around topics via the discussion tab. There are other features, like history, and activity subscription that makes this the perfect tool to house the project. Wikispaces is my preferred wiki environment. With a free educator account, teachers can create student accounts, even without email addresses.

Elluminate
====Use this tool to host live, collaborative meetings with students and teachers. This tool includes a collaborative whiteboard, presentation tools, polls, and web tours to support learning. Sessions can be recorded and published for later viewing.==== In LAUSD, there are steps to becoming a moderator for Elluminate, so you can set up and moderate your own meetings.

[|Skype]
Set up video-conferences between students and/or teachers on the fly. This is great for interviews or problem solving sessions. There is screen sharing and chat capabilities that facilitate enhanced collaboration. Skype sessions can be recorded using various tools. One recommended tool to record Skype sessions on the Mac is Call Recorder. There's a free version, but the Pro version at $19.95 is worth the investment.

Media
Creating Content to Embed on the Wiki

Create tutorials or tours using free screencapture tools. > ====ScreenCast-o-Matic is a free, easy to use, video screencapture tool. Videos can be up to 15 minutes, hosted on the ScreenCast-o-Matic site, and embedded on the wiki.==== > ====Jing by TechSmith allows you capture and publish images for free on the site. Images can be embedded on the wiki.==== > ====CoSketch From the description on their website: CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images.==== > Google Docs is the best way to collaborate on word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and form documents. This tool requires a login. In LAUSD, students with a MyMail account have access to these tools through Google Apps for Education. These documents can be embedded in Wikispaces. For quick word processing collaboration, **@http://typewith.me** is excellent. Create a space, share the url, and collaborate. The document can be exported to many different file formats.
 * Screen Capture**
 * ====**Video**====
 * ====**Images**====
 * ====**Processes, Graphic Organizers, Drawings**====
 * Documents**

Export images to embed or place on the wiki. Flickr is a great place to share images. Images can be tagged with description words, and creators can apply Creative Commons licenses. PicasaWeb, a Google tool, allows not only embedding individual images, but also slideshows of sets of images.
 * Images**

After you create a video, it's often hard to choose the right place to host it. YouTube is blocked for students in LAUSD. Vimeo.com is a good solution for hosting videos that will be then embedded on Wikispaces.
 * Video**

If you need to embed anything else in your website, the Embedit.in site works well, even for websites.
 * Other Content**

Other Participants