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"Before the advent of Twitter, most educators I know had limited opportunities to collaborate with colleagues outside their building. Some subscribed to listservs or participated in online forums, but these outlets lacked critical mass; teachers also networked at in-person conferences and training sessions, but these isolated events didn't provide ongoing support. Enter Twitter. I've heard many educators say that Twitter is the most effective way to collaborate and that they've learned more with Twitter than they have from years of formal professional development. Here are some of the specific ways educators are using Twitter to collaborate:"

"While many social bookmarking sites offer some collaboration opportunities, I have found that Diigo (Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff) combines a user-friendly social platform with bookmarking features, making it an effective research, integration, and collaboration tool for use in the classroom. In this article, I compare the benefits of traditional and social bookmarking websites. Then, using Diigo as a focus, I explore the possible uses and benefits of social bookmarking for research and collaboration in the classroom."

"Google Docs is an online suite of digital tools that provides teachers with some powerful features to help students develop 21st century writing skills. Since Docs are collaborative and available 24/7, the tool is well-suited for facilitating digital writing workshops that combine peer editing with cooperative grouping and small group fine-tuned writing instruction."

I have long held the belief that education and technology are the two great equalizers in life. This next phase of the Internet-Web 2.0 and collaboration-provide a vision of what is possible. As we see this vision taking shape in the present-enabling collaboration, breaking down barriers across the globe and providing access to information anywhere, anytime-this belief continues to grow. Education and technology go hand in hand, with the network serving as the platform for what we call the Learning Society, which we outline in detail in the pages that follow.

"Discuss web-site or product interfaces with your team. Add visual materials and screenshots, mark-up, leave comments in mini-chat. Create simple sketches or complex infographics using shapes, texts and mark-up tools. Visualize any data and share it with others. Upload pictures and drawings of interior and exterior, discuss your design projects with your colleagues and clients using comments and chat. Plan and discuss your projects in RealtimeBoard - add your Google Docs and PDF-presentations, create mindmaps and collaborate in real time. Use business model template to structure your business activity. Add files, texts, pictures, comments and work together.

Lucy Gay has provided this fascinating workshop outline in Edmodo It contains links and embedded assignments all ready to run.

"ECAR has surveyed undergraduate students annually since 2004 about technology in higher education. In 2012, ECAR collaborated with 195 institutions to collect responses from more than 100,000 students about their technology experiences. The findings are distilled into the broad thematic message for institutions and educators to balance strategic innovation with solid delivery of basic institutional services and pedagogical practices and to know students well enough to understand which innovations they value the most."

The Open Clip Art Library (OCAL) is the largest collaborative community that creates, shares and remixes clipart. All clipart is released to the public domain and may be used in any project for free with no restrictions.

"Google Tools offer a perfect solution for supporting PBL and CBL in the classroom.  These teaching and learning frameworks focus on a student-driven experience where collaboration is a key component."

"Below I have outlined information about three popular platforms used by schools implementing blended learning - Edmodo, Schoology and Moodle. These are not the only players in this field, but seem to be the most widely used - I have listed some other options at the Classroom Collaboration page. Each of these platforms has pros and cons, depending on your intended purpose. Of course, the best way to decide the most suitable option for your school is to give each platform a try. All are free, or offer a free component for educational use."

The world of education is often defined by the "haves" and "have nots." It is this separation that ultimately drives decisions when it comes to educational technology. Why should students in less affluent districts not be afforded the same opportunities as those with large budgets to utilize technology to create, collaborate, connect, communicate and develop essential media literacies? A BYOT initiative makes sense, as we can leverage a variety of devices that many students already possess. It is how we utilize these student-owned devices in schools that is the key to a successful BYOT initiative.

"This leaves us with the question of how to inspire students to look through Internet search results with tenacity, to approach new technologies that may require more problem-solving skills, and to address tasks that are not as instantaneously gratifying as playing video games. It is our role as teachers to help students develop the skills to problem solve independently and collaboratively use 21st-century skills while not relying on technology to do all of the thinking for them."

"Social media offers some great opportunities for learning in the classroom, bringing together the ability to collaborate, access worldwide resources, and find new and interesting ways to communicate in one easily accessible place. Teachers around the world have found innovative ways to use Twitter as a teaching tool (including TeachThought's favorite), and we've shared many of these great ideas here with you. Read on, and we'll explore 60 inspiring ways that teachers and students can put Twitter to work in the classroom."

"This year at my school we've begun to dip our toes into the waters of online communication (some staff are already swimming while others are still sitting on the edge thinking they'll drown without support). We've introduced both Edmodo and blogging to varying degrees this year. In a nutshell, I see Edmodo as an all encompassing classroom management/teaching and learning/collaboration system. Blogging, on the other hand, while it can be used for all the purposes just mentioned, is a tool for writing, publishing and sharing your body of work, be it major writing tasks or quick reflections on life or school work. While it aims to share and craves feedback, blogging is a personal tool. Edmodo, however, it more group oriented. Because of the differentiation between the two, I think they should both be part of classroom practice."

"There is a new timeline tool in town! Actually MyHistro is more than just a timeline - it has a  built-in mapping tool too. MyHistro allows users to build timelines around a theme or story with options for including text, video and photos. Every 'event' the user adds to their story can be geo-located on a Google Map. Stories can be developed by individuals or as a collaborative effort; the owner simply invites others to co-author a timeline. Comments are limited to registered users only. Registration is free with unlimited space and number of timelines you can create."

"This Contemporary Literacy Practices of Preps e-book has been developed to showcase the range of learning opportunities possible when digital technologies become an integral part of children's' learning and development. The e-book is also a testament to the amazing capabilities of young learners to acquire the necessary digital literacy skills necessary for participation in life. The e-book highlights how technologies can help support sharing, collaboration and communication in and beyond the classroom."

Welcome to the Integrating Edmodo into your Classroom Lesson Plan Activity.  Edmodo is an amazing place where you can collaborate with other educators or students anytime anywhere.  As you progress through this activity, keep thinking about how you could use Edmodo in your everyday job whether it be a teacher, administrator, professional developer, or something else. 

"As I lamented in my last post, many of the fabulous Web tools out there are restricted to users 13 and over. This limits what Elementary/Primary schools students can access online to create content to collaborate. To save others at school some time, then, I have compiled a list of popular/well known Web tools that can and can't be used by children under 13 - 1), so we are legally covered in what we are allowing our students to use and 2), so they know what is available. Please note that generally the sites that allow for under 13s still ask for parental permission ( even Edmodo if you haven't read the Terms of Use) so a solid school user agreement is needed to use these tools. Some of the sites are not US based so are not bound by COPPA and CIPA regulations. It still requires schools to carefully check out what can be viewed on these sites to ensure they are appropriate to access."

"The Google Docs collection provides a streamlined, collaborative solution to writing papers, organizing presentations and putting together spreadsheets and reports. But besides the basic features, there are lots of little tricks and hacks you can use to make your Google Docs experience even more productive. Here are 100 great tips for using the documents, presentations and spreadsheets in Google Docs."

"Edmodo is a web and mobile application that provides a safe and easy way for students and teachers to connect and collaborate, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices." This is a collection of videos designed to get you started with Edmodo.