Breaking Down Walls:

Collaborations Across the

PlanetPresenter: Lorie

Zbaraschuk

I know nothing about the topic, but I’ll be happy to

give you my expert opinion.

A Few Projects I’ve Participated In

• http://januaryweather.wikispaces.com/• http://bookbuds.wikispaces.com/• http://kidblog.org/WorldCommunityExchange2012/• http://buzzerbee.wikispaces.com/home• http://kidblog.org/MrsGallettaMrsBaird/ • http://voicethread.com/#q.b1345985.i7246194• http://www.hmh.org/ed_butterfly1.shtml

Collaboration Can: • Motivate students to learn/produce quality

work • Provide an audience for student work • Develop students’ digital fluency through

authentic learning tasks

• Help students see themselves as global citizens who can affect change in the world

• Help students establish friendships/build self-esteem

• sharing common interests

• having good communication

• investing time and effort in the relationship

• establishing expectations

• connecting with the right partner

When you say you want to be “just friends” do you mean

Facebook friends,MySpace friends,Buzznet friends, LinkedIn friends

Collaboration Is A Lot Like Dating

Looking for Mr. Right…

www.epals.com It’s more than just penpals!

http://projects.twice.cc/index.php CAPSpaces

http://www.projectsbyjen.com/calendar.htmK-6 CollaborationsYou can Join

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.cfm

http://www2.ed.gov/teachers/how/tech/international/guide_pg2.html -- SEVERAL LINKS

http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/

http://connectedclassrooms.wordpress.com/projects/ccglobal/

http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis

Sites that help classrooms connect:

Looking for Mr. Right…

• Contact teachers you know • Contact your division technology

consultants

• Contact other division technology consultants

Local Connections Make Good Partners

Collaboration at the local level is the easiest to implement and lets you connect with teacherswith common curriculum outcomes and education policy.

What Do You Wanna Do?

• Keep projects simple and manageable.

• Provide all participants with a project outline that includes curricular outcomes, activities, helpful resources, technology expectations, and, if possible, an exemplar.

Tips for Creating a Project

Pick Up Lines That Actually Work…

Keys for Making Contact:

• When registering your profile or project, be specific. Include your students’ age/grade level and the amount and type of contact you desire.

Pick Up Lines That Actually Work…

Keys for Making Contact:

• Create a short, concise form letter for contacting multiple classrooms.

• Add friendly, personal comments to each letter to prevent them from sounding like cut and paste letters.

Pick Up Lines That Actually Work…

Keys for Making Contact:

• If your project involves several international partners, let teachers know what other countries have already joined the project. A snowball effect happens as more people join.

I just became friends with Abe Lincoln, Beethoven, and Elvis on

Cloudbook!

Pick Up Lines That Actually Work…

Keys for Making Contact:

• Do not overwhelm potential partners in your first contact!

When Should I Pick You Up….Timeline Considerations:

• Look for partners 6-10 weeks before starting a project.

• Avoid busy times– ex. Christmas, school start-up.

• Remember school calendars differ in other parts of the world.

• Budget enough time to complete.

• Establish start and end dates for project.

Communication Tips

• Keep a list of all your successful collaborative partners in your e-mail contact list. They may be potential partners for future collaborations.

• If possible, get a personal or school e-mail address from your partners, rather than their e-Pals address.

• Maintain contact during the period between signing-up partners and the beginning of the project. Keeping in touch prevents higher project drop-out rates.

I Think We Need to Talk…

Where Do You Wanna Hang Out?

Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools

1) Blogging -- students post text, video, pictures, or embedded content on-line on a password protected blogsite. Participants can leave comments for one another on each blog.

My Favorite Classroom Blog Site: http://kidblog.org/home.php

2) Wikis -– students work together to create a website (wiki). Each student/classroom can be assigned pages of the wiki to complete.

My Favorite Educational Wiki Site: http://www.wikispaces.com/content/teacher

Where Do You Wanna Hang Out?

Other Helpful Web 2.0 Tools/Sites1) Dropbox -- if you need to exchange large files that cannot be

sent through e-mail. Requires registration.

2) Googledocs – if you want students to collaborate on a document or slide show together. Requires registration.

3) Voki -- students can create on-line talking avatars and embed in blogs or wikis or send link through e-mail. Registration only required if you wish to save message to edit for later.

4) Voicethread -- students can leave audio comments for images uploaded by the participants. Requires registration.

Where Do You Wanna Hang Out?

Other Helpful Web 2.0 Tools/Sites5) Wallwisher– students post sticky note messages on an on-line wall easily set up by the teacher. No registration, just save the link to your wall.

6) Today’s Meet– on-line discussions made possible. No registration, just provide students with link.

Example: http://todaysmeet.com/ITSummit

7) PollCode – students create on-line polls to collect data. No registration.

8) Mixbook – students can create a book together. Registration required.

He’s Just Not That In To You…

Like dating, not all collaborations result

in a positive outcome.

• Expect some teachers to drop-out of a project. In my experience, about 30% of the teachers who initially sign up follow through with their commitment to complete a project.

Collaboration Etiquette

If you can’t complete a project, let your partner know. Don’t just leave

them hanging.

Do You Have Protection? Protect Your Students

Be aware of your school division’s policies for students internet use and identity protection. (FOIP)

If contact is teacher to teacher– I send an information letter

regarding the project.

If contact is student to student and students could continue contact

beyond the timeframe of the project – I send a permission letter

home.