Younger generation are more familiar to technologies and this brings up the great possibilities of making studies more fun and easy with the use of the same. With multinational companies like google introducing google classrooms it has become more easier for teachers and students to use technology to help the process. Here am presenting you 20 collaborative tools for teachers and students.
Titanpad is a great platform for teachers to track the works of students and what each student can contribute to a collaborative work assigned to them. Student can create a public document and share the url with other collaborators. Each of them can make changes to their work as per their ideas. Teachers can also judge each one individually as each collaborator will have their color and whatever changes they make will be given different colors. A record of every changes made will be kept orderly and in colors to analyze the work of each collaborator. This ensures the participation of every collaborator as the teacher can individually track everyone’s contribution. Students can create private and public space according to the need of the work. Titanpad also makes sure that students don’t have to register or log in to use a public space. This helps them to save plenty of time
Google docs as the name sounds is about working on documents. It helps students to work on essays, projects, class notes, reports, lesson plans and more. It gives them plenty of fonts, images, drawing etc.. to choose from and helps them with editing and styling tools which over all makes students love what they are doing and the study process becomes more fun. Students can have access to it from anywhere any time. Google docs can be used even when there is no connection which makes this one even more appealing to teachers and parents. Also multiple users can work on the same document at the same time. Every work will be saved as you type and there is no risk of losing a file when a student forget to hit the save button all the time. Every versions of the work can be seen in history and whoever have made the changes.
The name tells you all. Yes. This is a classroom. Teachers need to create a classroom. Different classroom’s will have different codes which can be shared with the students or they can be directly added. Teachers are able to track the progress of each students works on the assignments given. Queries can be made to the whole class or individually with teachers. This a great step made by google in promoting eco-friendly education by eliminating usage of bulks of papers.
Younger generations are very much used to recording audio and video clips enjoying more access to gadgets at home. Palbee therefore is a great option available to teachers and students alike. This is a video conferencing service. This can be used to deal with seminars and presentations. Students shy of crowd can use this as a starting level to perform and slowly they can beat the shyness within them to address a crowd. Teachers can also upload videos of tutorials which students can have access to even after class and prevent them getting stuck in doubts.
Podio can be better described as a social network meant for studies. Teachers can distribute presentations and notes to students in no time. This minimizes lots of paper works and hence saves time. It also offers unlimited storage. Podio is not only meant for sharing files but is a mini classroom where students and teachers are able to confirm. Students can submit works and collaborators can comment on them too which results in getting instant reviews. Comments and tips from teachers will be very much encouraging to students.
Crocodoc lets you upload documents, pdf files and PowerPoint slides which helps create a classroom using the tool. Students can send their works and teacher can make the necessary corrections and send it back. Teachers can also share url’s of e-books which students can refer. Uploading class room notes as documents can even help students who couldn’t attend the class.
Teamviewer is a communication platform where you can chat with multiple users at the same time. Students and teachers can keep in touch even when they are at different places with a chat room. Different chat rooms can be created for different class rooms and subjects. Transfer of files is also possible. It also helps collaborators know if their message is read and also if the one you are chatting with is typing anything which clearly shows one’s interest in the work involved.
Another collaborative tool that makes you comfortable to deal with your study matters. You can create a study group and you have access to five different platforms. Discuss, chat, share, collaborate and manage.
Discuss lets you can share your queries and teachers can respond to your queries here. It also admits sharing of videos and links.
Chat can be used for both texting and video chats. Students who wants to ask doubts individually can use this to communicate with their teachers. Share lets users share links, videos and pictures. This can be called as the library.
Collaborate provides a collaborative white board where problems can be solved together. Manage lets you keep all the files and works organized.
A great tool for co-browsing. Teachers and students can access the same web page at the same time and offers chat options. Chat options lets everyone communicate and share their ideas and queries. This helps teachers take students out of text books to get them a clearer picture about the topic.
Mind42 is about creating a mind map. This can be used by teachers to create a mind map and share with students. Options are available to let others edit your mind map or just let them go through it. By using the collaboration option teachers can invite students and also let them edit the map and share new thoughts. If any of the collaborator is online and is making some changes to the map, there is an icon at the bottom which will turn blue and the collaborators name will also be displayed.
A tool according to me every teachers, students and also parents should be having. Here you can keep files private and can share files with or without the option to edit. When the file is open to limited collaborators having permission to edit then they will require to sign in with a google account. In case the file as open to all, then signing in wont be required. By keeping files private, students and teachers can keep the notes and study materials in a disciplined way with access to it from anywhere anytime. Files shared publicly without option to edit can be used by teachers to provide class notes and release statements to students and parents.
An excellent tool for teachers and students to keep track of things. Class room information can be uploaded here. It will help students be reminded about projects, seminars, discussions and works as such and deadlines associated with it. This helps teachers even when they are absent to post new works and also remind students about already given works.
Teachers can create a website or blog in WordPress. Here they can share links to websites or pages that could be helpful to students and can also post newsletters and study notes. Online discussions can also be conducted. Another major positive of this tool is, teachers can instruct blog writing to students which can improve the writing and referencing skills of students. It can also spark the creativity in them
I bet you are surprised. Aren’t you? Twitter can be used for education in plenty of ways. One of the best qualities of a professional is to be very specific when he conveys something. The 140-word limit provided in twitter can develop this quality in students when they are asked to tweet something very informative and striking on a given topic. Teachers can tweet about project and seminar topics and remind about deadlines. Depending on topics of studies students should be asked to follow individuals related to it. Students will also be up to date about the latest news and technologies. Teachers are also able to make sure students are using the platform for the best cause by seeing whoever they are following.
A collaborative text book. That’s how I would like to describe TED-Ed. This tool makes studies much easier. Teachers can select any video from YouTube and create a lesson around it. With video attached lessons, students pick up the topic fast and is easy for every student to understand. Associated with every lesson there will be few sections namely Watch, Think, Dig Deeper and Discuss. In Think section teacher can post questions for students to answer. In Think Deeper section teacher can post more articles, web links or blogs so that students can get deeper knowledge about the lesson. Students will have individual profiles where teacher can access their information such as lessons viewed, lessons in progress and completed lessons. Teachers also have access to the questions answered by them to track their performance.
Teachers will have a class blog as a platform to keep students and parents informed by posting important news, calendars, class notes etc. Students will have a platform to publish their works. With the blog various learning tools will be provided to teachers and students. Teachers will have total control of students’ privacy settings and content usage which makes this tool even more appealing to parents.
Pinterest has taken bulletin board online. Each user can create different boards in different names. Every individual has the freedom to decide who can see their boards. They can have private boards and public boards as well. Teachers and students can follow each other. Teachers can create boards on different study topics and can pin to it necessary articles and pictures so that students can have access to it. Students can go through it and can pin the same to their own personal boards. Students should be advised to keep their boards pubic and let their teachers also pin on their boards so that the latter can give special attention to students who are little backward in their studies. As the teacher will be having a better idea about each student and their comfort zones, different study materials can be pinned on their boards. High quality visualization used in Pinterest makes it very interesting for students. With a library board teachers can update students about latest books arrival.
If someone asks you to pick the odd one out from all the 20 collaborative tools mentioned here, then your answer should be Sophia. This is not just about teachers and students from the same institution interacting each other using a tool. Sophia offers around 37000 free tutorials and thousands of teachers. With different students being comfortable with different teaching styles Sophia offers you a great platform to choose a teaching style that suites your learning methods. This one makes you feel like you are playing a game by offering you different badges based on your performance just as in a game. It makes learning more fun.
Edmodo is a great choice when you require more digital sharing. Provide assignments and projects and students can have online discussions. Teacher can divide students into categories and they can collaborate as a group. Platform will be provided for students to post digital contents created by them. Online discussions can be used to discuss and share queries regarding the content.
I thought I would mention this one last. Know why? This one is more of a survey tool. Teachers can post several questions to evaluate their own performance. Questions like whether the class was effective, do you find any topics need more explanation, is there any way my methods should be changed to effectively reach out to you. Questions can be posted on various other matters too where student opinions are very important. Responses can be presented in charts. This one is another great collaborative tools that should be used in every education centers. Surveys are always a great method to keep going improvising on areas by taking opinions and education sector is no different
1) While internet is required to use most of these collaborative tools don’ t you think there is a chance of misuse?
Education sector has become so competitive that teachers are forced to push learning beyond borders. Many multinational companies like Google has developed tools solely for education addressing every such concerns. Institutions are able to block every other website that they feel is irrelevant to education preventing the possibilities of misuse inside the institution. At home, parents can use of the parent control available in devices before letting children use Internet.
2) A major concern for parents in this era is that children are more device oriented and lacks face to face communication such that they fail to notice what is going on around. Don’t you think a collaborative study method using devices and internet is going to add to it?
Internet and devices are the future of education like any other sector. It should be noted that using these tools doesn’t replace other interactive class sessions and collaborations. Devices could replace paper books in future as part of going green and these collaborative tools should be just seen as books providing a platform for collaboration in the form of devices. In short this is a positive move that ensures collaboration and communication even in your books which actually doesn’t provide any platform for interaction.
3) How to possibly eradicate the distractions digitalizing education can cause during studies?
At first place, the influence of gadgets on younger generation was never generated from the use of those for education. And it should be stressed that using gadgets for education will never be in such a way that their fingers and eyes will be running wild on the screen.
Younger generation are so fast in typing than writing in paper. Using that skill in them helps to cover the lessons even faster.
They are used to depend on gadgets in every situations of boredom, be it in a function or otherwise. Instead of letting them roam in useless stuffs in their gadgets, introducing of educational tools which is more fun than normal books is in a way distracting them from their on distractions.
Embrace the idea of distractions itself to use their time productively. Use their distractions like texting, gaming or any other to pull out the creativity in them. Ask a frequent texter to write essays, articles or stories. Ask a frequent gamer to develop his own idea of developing a new game which could also help gain some knowledge.