Technology Tools For Collaboration

EdTech Tools for
Encouraging Classroom
Collaboration
Prepared by:
DR. MARY LOE G. SINGSON
"Collaboration is essential in our classrooms
because it is inherent in the nature of how
work is accomplished in our civic and
workforce lives. Fifty years ago, much work
was accomplished by individuals working
alone, but not today. Much of all significant
work is accomplished in teams, and in many
cases, global teams."
The National Education Association, An
Educator's Guide to the "Four C's "
Collaboration is one of the most essential ingredients to
fostering 21st century skills and deeper learning in the
classroom.The Harvard education specialist Tony
Wagner has argued that, because knowledge is now
available on every internet-connected device, the ability
to collaborate has become far more important for
students than academic knowledge. Did you know that it
was a collaborative school computer club that brought
together two minds that would change the future of
technology forever? Those two minds were Bill Gates
and Paul Allen, the founders of Microsoft. Collaboration
doesn’t just fuel social and emotional skills ...it fuels
innovation.
Some of our favorite tech tools for facilitating
collaboration and fueling innovation in the
classroom:
1. Google Apps for Education
The Google Drive apps enable students and teachers to
collaborate more effectively on papers, spreadsheets,
and presentations. The beauty of the Google Suite for
Education is: several people can contribute
simultaneously, so it’s truly designed for collaboration.
There is a limit of 50 simultaneous collaborators for
Google Docs and Sheets, so there’s space for an entire
class. There is a limit of 200 total viewers and editors in
Google Docs and Sheets.
Another great feature of Google Apps is that they
automatically save your work, so students’ work
will never be lost. There’s also never a need to
keep several iterations of a document because
the revision history feature allows you to revert to
previous versions of the document (to find
revision history: go to the File menu and select
“See revision history”).
2. Kahoot:
Kahoot is a game-based classroom response system
that gives educators an engaging way to test the
knowledge of their students. Teachers and educators
LOVE Kahoot...and we even use it at our GoGuardian
team meetings and Harry Potter trivia contests (yes we
are that nerdy). Kahoot can be used to boost
collaboration through encouraging students to be the
leaders and “quiz-makers”: to research, create, and
present their own quizzes to the class.
3. FlipGrid:
FlipGrid is a video discussion community for your
classroom that uses student voices to promote
collaboration, discussion, and engagement. With
FlipGrid, you can type a question and create a link for a
“grid”. Students respond to the question in video
format (kids get to be the “talking heads”) and are
added to the “grid” of all the responses. FlipGrid is a
great way to build the communicational skills of your
students, while facilitating collaboration.
4. MindMeister:
MindMeister is a collaborative web-based tool that
enables groups to brainstorm on one “mind map”
document during the early phases of group work.
Students can continue to use the document for
collaborating during the course of a project.
MindMeister teaches students to work as a team to
manage and plan projects effectively, and to break
complex tasks down into smaller, more manageable
parts.
5. Google Hangouts:
Google Hangouts is a great way to bring remote groups of
students together to communicate and collaborate. With
Google Hangouts, inviting a guest speaker into the classroom
has never been easier ….Google Hangouts enables anyone
from around the world to “visit” a school. You can also use
Hangouts on Air to record video, so you can record the day’s
class and post a link to it on your class’ website for students
that were absent. Google Hangouts is also a great vehicle for
connecting and collaborating with other classrooms...within
your own school or across the globe!
Here are some helpful and versatile
technology tools to easily and quickly
integrate into your classroom and get your
students in a classroom collaboration
mindset.
Discussion Tools: Get Them Talking
Teachers need to hear from students, and we know that asking
questions or calling on students to discuss a topic can often make them
nervous. When students, or anyone, develop that feeling of “being on
the spot”, it can become more difficult to encourage students to share
what they are thinking, what they are feeling and what their true
opinions are. This is where digital tools can provide security and
opportunities for students to express themselves. Technology has a
true purpose. Students still need to develop the ability–and
confidence–to speak in class, but these tools can help by providing a
comfortable way for students to develop their voice and express
themselves.
Depending on the type of question or discussion format you
want your classroom collaboration to focus on, there are many
tools available that can help.
1. SurveyMonkey is a good way to ask a variety of questions,

find out what students are thinking, use it for a quick
formative assessment, and many other possibilities. I have
used it to find out how students prepared for tests, what areas
they need help with, and even for voting for club officers and
planning trips. You have the results quickly and can provide
feedback instantly, to plan your next steps in class. It can be a
different way to find out about your students and their needs.
2. TodaysMeet is a backchannel tool that can be used in or out of class,
as a way for students to contribute to a discussion or ask questions. It
can also be used to provide “office hours” online, for students to ask
questions beyond the school day. There are many possible uses for this
tool, and setting it up is easy.
3. GoSoapBox is a response tool that can be used to ask a variety of

questions without students having to create accounts. Students simply
need an “event code” provided by the teacher to access the activities
available. GoSoapBox can be used for polls, discussion questions,
quizzes and more, and provides a fast way to assess students or to
simply learn more about them and their thoughts.
4. Recap is a video response tool, where students can respond to a
prompt and all responses are compiled into a “daily reel” for teachers
to view and provide feedback. Students can respond from anywhere
and feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts using this tool.
These are just four of the many options—sometimes it just takes a bit
of research. Asking the students for new ways to use the tools you have
already been using in class can also be helpful.
Communication Through Collaboration
There are many options which promote classroom collaboration
and enhance writing skills and student voice.
5) Blogging: Through blogging, teachers can provide support for
students and help them to gain confidence in writing and
speaking. We have used Kidblog to complete many writing tasks
and creative writing assignments.
6) Wikispaces: A Wiki has worked really well in our classes for
having students collaborate on a topic, create a discussion page,
and set it up to inform on a topic, to list just a few examples. We
created a wiki on Spanish art and also created our own travel
agency.
7) Padlet: Padlet is a “virtual wall” which promotes collaboration,
communication, creativity and more because of its versatility. Students
can write a response to a discussion question, add resources for a
collaborative class project, work in small groups, use it for
brainstorming or connect with other students and classrooms
throughout the world.
Using digital tools in this way is great because the discussions don’t
have to end when class does. These tools provide ways to get students
talking and share their ideas, so that classroom collaboration can even
be taken home.
Creating presentations and telling a story
A few options for having students present information
in a visual way with options for multimedia include the
following:
8) Buncee is a web based tool that can be used for

creating presentations, interactive lessons and more,
with many options for including different characters,
fonts, animations, video and more.
What are the benefits of these tools?
Each of these tools promote more personalized and
meaningful learning for students, along with a healthy dose of
classroom collaboration. These tools can be used to enhance,
amplify and facilitate deeper and more authentic learning.
Using technology just for the sake of using it doesn’t make
sense. But using it to help students find their voice, learn what
they want to do, what they can do and what they need help
with, does make sense.
9) Piktochart is a tool for creating infographics,
social media flyers, engaging presentations and
more. Students have created menus, self-
descriptions, movie and tv advertisements, recipe
presentations and much more.
10) Visme is a “drag and drop” tool that is easy to
use for creating infographics, reports, different
presentations and more. It has a library full of
images, charts and more, making it easy for users
to create exactly what they need.
References:
https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/01/10-edtech-tools-classroom-
collaboration/
https://www.goguardian.com/blog/technology/5-tech-tools-for-
classroom-collaboration/

Technology Tools For Collaboration

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EdTech Tools for

1. SurveyMonkey is a good way to ask a variety of questions,

3. GoSoapBox is a response tool that can be used to ask a variety of

8) Buncee is a web based tool that can be used for

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