Choosing a platform for online teacher collaboration - suggestions?
I'd love your input on a project our district is working on right now. We want to create a space online for teachers in the district to share resources and discuss best practices. We need to be able to post resources (handouts, links, etc), describe them, tag them, and discuss. We want the material to be easily organized. Our primary goal is that the site will build communication and collaboration within the district but we also hope that as time goes on we can encourage participants to expand their personal learning network beyond the district as well. The site will also be used to supplement face-to-face professional development taking place during the year.
Do you have any suggestions on what platform would be the best fit for us? We've been looking already at wikis or a ning - I think wikis would make it easier for us to organize the information as it is posted, and a ning would make it easier for us to have discussions. I'm curious whether maybe there is something else out there that might be an even better fit. We want something free - we'd like to avoid hosting fees - and we want a super easy set up that preferably does not require hosting on our own servers.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
Do you have any suggestions on what platform would be the best fit for us? We've been looking already at wikis or a ning - I think wikis would make it easier for us to organize the information as it is posted, and a ning would make it easier for us to have discussions. I'm curious whether maybe there is something else out there that might be an even better fit. We want something free - we'd like to avoid hosting fees - and we want a super easy set up that preferably does not require hosting on our own servers.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
Tags: ning, onlinepd, pd, wikis
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Jim Murphy on -
I am using a product purchased from Telligent called Community Server for this. Very powerful tool and available at decent prices (if your district wants to make this work, tell them to spend some money!!) for non-profit agencies. It is very easy to manage, provides easy to run communities and site-wide resource development. I am currently researching and implementing best-practices approaches to combining synchronous and asynchronous technologies to provide educators with sustained opportunties for professional learning. Have a look at www.telligent.com for more info on the products. Drupal and Moodle and other open source packages like Wordpress (www.wordpress.org) work well too and are free, but this product provided me with both the robust platform and the flexibility I was looking seeking. If you would like a look at what we are doing, then feel free to contact me. :-) It is always difficult to move these initiatives forward on a shoestring, so I hope your dsitrict is looking at putting some $$$$ into the initiative. It will pay off in the long run if you can keep more teachers off the road and more engaged in professional learning by using a combination of Web 2.0 technologies and synchronous online delivery tools directly from their schools or homes! Cheers!! Jim
-
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
Commercial Policy
If you are representing a commercial entity, please see the specific guidelines on your participation.
The Fifth Year Anniversary Book Project!
Related Links & Events:
EdIncubator
EdIncubator" projects are designed to help education projects or initiatives build advisory councils with real educators, administrators, parents, and students giving real feedback. Current projects are below.
Groups interested in participating can contact Steve Hargadon directly.
Support:
Classroom 2.0 is a free site. You can support the network by making a donation (any amount):You can also support us by using our Amazon search link:
Thanks to support from:
Badge
About
Follow
Awards:
© 2012 Created by Steve Hargadon.
