Online Collaboration

MILI 2010-2011LeAnn Suchy, Metronet

leann@metronet.lib.mn.us

What is online collaboration?

• Web-based collaboration software

• Collaboration across rooms, buildings, states, countries

• Collaboration on documents, presentations, spreadsheets, websites, etc.

Why online collaboration in education?

• Can collaborate from anywhere with a computer and internet connection

• No software to download and upgrade

• Teachers can be included in collaboration process, not just end result

Some collaboration tools

• Wikis– Pbworks - http://pbworks.com/

• Blogs– Blogger - http://www.blogger.com– Posterous - http://posterous.com/

• Websites– Google Sites - https://sites.google.com/

• Documents– Google Docs – what we’ll focus on

• Zoho (http://www.zoho.com/) is very similar to Google Docs

Google Docs

• Collaboration of online documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, etc.

• Can create new in Google Docs or upload already-created documents

• Multiple users can edit same document online– no more attachments back and forth via email!

Google Docs home

Creating new Google Doc

New Google Doc

Google Docs home again

Between now and our in-person• Edit our Google Doc (Who’s On First) to play

around with the features

In-person we’ll show you how to…

• Share a Google Doc• Chat with others in Google Docs• Organize Google Docs• And show some of the other Google Docs

tools – spreadsheets, forms, etc.

Google Docs for Educators

Google for Educators - Basics

Google for Educators Tips & Tricks

Google for Educators Classroom Activities

Between now and our meeting you should…

• Edit our Who’s On First document to play around with some of Google Docs features

• Upload a document you created in Word or Excel to Google Docs to see the differences

• Post a blog post about the uses you could see for Google Docs in your classroom

• Look at the Assignments section of Month 2 for more info