My Social Studies students are collaborating globally on projects and I would love to hear how others are using Web2.0 tools for long distance collaboration (in any content area). I have found that there is a lot of information about online tools and how to find contacts but not much on project design and coordinating objectives with teachers from other cultures. I would love to share ideas and success stories with others, not only for my own enrichment but also in preparation for a presentation I am giving at a technology conference in March. Thanks,
Jonathan
Hi Jonathon. Where did you find the global connections? I am interested in creating projects also, but I am having a hard time finding collaborators.
Thank you, Michele
Hey, Jonathan, I am going to get back to this with some additional thoughts based on what I have done in the past, but IMHO this is exactly the focal challenge of any online collaboration: the work between two (or more) teachers to articulate clear outcomes and work backwards from those to the activities involved. This is critical; content (curriculum) is always the driver or at least it should be. It likely requires even better preparation over distances than it would if we were working with a colleague down the hall. The technical tools really ought to be the last consideration in collaborating.
I'm using Open Atrium (a Drupal distribution inspired by BaseCamp) to help schools develop professional learning communities.
It becomes part of the schools Intranet, and is particularly handy if the school is using Drupal for Web 2.0 / Blended Learning activity support, rather than cobbling together Internet sites from hither and yon.
If you would like to see a demo and examples, I'm glad to share!