Apps for Student Collaboration

It often happens that while I am searching for apps to suit a particular need, I encounter a new app that does something more exciting and engaging than the one for which I am searching.  Can you tell I love tech? Such was my experience this morning.  There are countless blogs that have wonderful suggestions on how to create a workflow, having students use a series of apps to create a product or complete a learning outcome. This morning, I found a few apps that could be used to have students collaborate on a project.

I've previously posted about using Google docs for student collaboration.  I feel like this is still the best way to collaborate on a document in real-time.  If you are looking for a way to work together on a presentation, adding pictures, text, links to video content, annotations, and files, all while having the capability of video chatting, adding comments, and sharing your screen with others, then Real Time Board is the tool for you. There are many similarities to the way that Prezi operates, but the collaborative aspect adds another dimension to this tool.  You can invite others by email, Google+, and Facebook to view and collaborate on your board.  You also have the capability of saving your board as an image or PDF, or embedding your link on a blog.  This could be a powerful tool to have students collaboratively produce presentations and share and save in amazing ways!  I've shared a quick board that I had created when I first signed up for the account.  You can view a basic example I created on the human heart and circulatory system here.

I came across an app that I think would do some of the same things as Real Time Board called SyncShare. SyncShare shares drawings between participants that are invited via email, Twitter, or iMessage.  This app allows two iPad users to collaborate on a drawing or annotate on a photograph.  I thought that the free app was the only version available, but I soon discovered that the paid version allows the student to share drawings without limits.  You could take screenshots of content from the web on which you would like to annotate or include as part of the drawing.  The only disadvantage is the $10 price tag.  The Aww app is a scaled down web-version similar to SyncShare, which can be used, for free, quickly between users.

Subtext is another app that I would like to mention, although it appears that we do not currently have access to the app in Canada.  What is superb about Subtext is that you can load PDFs, articles, and eBooks and highlight sections within the text to have students engage in a discussion. There are too many features to mention, but I was presented with this app at a conference in the States and it has incredible potential for use in the classrooms.  Bring it our way, app developer!

Educators and students alike have the potential to extend education beyond the classroom walls, making learning a continuous, collaborative, and engaging process.

Google Hangouts

I have just become enamoured with the collaborative possibilities of Google docs and Google Hangout.  I cannot rave more about the professional development possibilities that Google docs and hangout offers.  I am currently working collaboratively with two resource teachers in Winnipeg and one in Thompson to create a year/unit plan incorporating UDL principles using Google docs.  We are able to witness each other's revisions in real-time and are able to comment on things that need tweaking.  Just the other day, I participated in my first hangout with an administrator in the ISD to collaborate on a presentation that will be delivered to admin council tomorrow.  Google docs and hangout has allowed me to collaborate with professionals near and far to create amazing presentations and projects.  If you haven't heard of Google hangouts, please see this wonderful posting on the Edutopia blog. Or you can visit the hangout site for more information.

Update: I have created a Google doc that includes some links to further information about Google apps and a YouTube video that walks you through Google Hangout.  With this information, you can be well on your way to collaborating and communicating with your colleagues or teaching your students about some great tools for project work! Access the slides here.

Google Apps For Education (GAFE)

If using dropbox has become a part of your teaching day, then I would highly recommend that you give Google a second look.  When I created my google email account 3 years ago, I had no idea how much I would come to rely on it for work purposes.  I use my Google drive to store spreadsheets and word processing documents, but because I am no longer a front line teacher, I haven't fully explored the potential uses of Google docs in the classroom.  Luckily, there are savvy sages of Google docs.  Jenny Magiera, blogger and tech officianado in the Chicago Public Schools System has written this very informative piece on the many uses of Google drive in the classroom.  Using this online tool will no longer permit senior students to make excuses about not being able to get together to work on their Science project.  Collaboration can take place in real time! Check out Ms. Magiera's blog post here.

A Little Inspiration

At the Closing the Gap conference in October 2012, presenter Paul Hamilton showed us a collaborative storytelling website that can be used for creative writing in the classroom. StoryBird allows you to select from artwork that has been offered up by artists to the site creators. Users can select a theme and browse through collections of illustrated pictures.  The average collection will have multiple illustrations to allow a user to create a story around the set of pictures.  It is easy to click and drag pictures onto the page board and then add the inspired text.  Students can collaborate on storybooks together and then have it published in a private account.  Teachers also have the option of creating a class account, adding student accounts to the class account, and then assigning projects for the students to work on.  As an added bonus, books can be purchased for Android and iOS devices at a mere $1.99.  This, I assume, is how the artists are paid for their contributed work.  Published digital works can also be shared with others through email.  As there is such a great selection of artwork collections, it offers inspiration for students to work through the creative writing process. This could be a great option for a reluctant writer!

Please read Camelia Cat's Birthday Puddle Party-  a story I created one evening while exploring how this site works.