Collaboration

= **Blog Tools** =

**Blogs** - A weblog, daily journal, travel highlights, daily reflections. eSchool Blogs (through ePals on Kan-ed) is safe for students. Take a look at this wiki creators blogs.
 * Cyndi: Technology Bits, Bytes & Nibbles:** @http://www.technologybitsbytesnibbles.info/
 * Mary: A Chat With Mary:** @http://achatwithmary.blogspot.com/

@http://edublogs.org/ Edublogs lets you easily create & manage student & teacher blogs, quickly customize designs and include videos, photos & podcasts - it's safe, easy and secure.
 * EduBlogs**

@http://classblogmeister.com/ Class Blogmeister is one of several blogging engines that have been developed specifically for classroom use. You are welcome to explore the writings of teachers and students alike.
 * Class BlogMeister**

@https://www.blogger.com/ Share your thoughts, photos, and more with your friends and the world. It’s easy to post text, photos, and videos from the web or your mobile phone. Unlimited flexibility to personalize your blog with themes, gadgets, and more.
 * Blogger**

**WordPress** @http://wordpress.org/
 * WordPress** is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it. WordPress is Open Source, so you can download and host the software on your own server or you can use WordPress.com for Free.

==== **TypePad** @http://www.typepad.com/ TypePad lets you select from thousands of designs and has lots of widgets, custom banners, and more. However, this service is not free. You can take advantage of a free trial before you decide to pay the low monthly fee or annual subscription, though. ====

==== **LiveJournal** @http://www.livejournal.com/ In addition to providing a blog, LiveJournal also makes it easy to create a social network through the blogs. This might work great for your class if all the students will have their own blog as well. ==== @http://www.movabletype.org/ Another free blog publisher, Moveable Type offers many of the same features as the others with a spam blocker, templates, and more.
 * Movable Type**

@http://www.tumblr.com/ Not really a full-fledged blogging platform, Tumblr is designed for smaller posts and a much more personalized experience. If you aren’t ready to go the way of the blog, this might be a good way to get your feet wet.
 * Tumblr**

**Kidblog.org** - Safe and Simple Blogs for Your Students
http://www.kidblog.org Kidblog.org is designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with their own, unique blog. Kidblog's simple, yet powerful tools allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs

 = **Wiki Tools ** =


 * Wikis ** - Collaborative web pages with discussion forums.These are perfect for collaborative teams to keep track of notes, lesson plans, ideas, activities, video clips, etc. (wikispaces, pbwiki, etc.) This wiki was created using WikiSpaces.

**WikiSpaces** @http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers We're giving away the Plus wiki features that normally cost $50/year. No fine print, no usage limits, no advertising, no catches.

**PB Works for Education** @http://pbworks.com/content/edu+overview PBworks hosts over 300,000 educational workspaces, and has helped transform teaching and learning for millions of students, parents and teachers. Educators ranging from major universities like DePaul, school districts like Baltimore County Public Schools and individual teachers trust PBworks as their collaborative learning environment. **WetPaint** @http://www.wetpaint.com A Wetpaint website is built on the power of collaborative thinking. Here, you can create websites that mix all the best features of wikis, blogs, forums and social networks into a rich, user-generated community based around the whatever-it-is that rocks your socks. A social website that’s so easy to use, anyone can participate.

**Zoho Wiki** @http://wiki.zoho.com Create Collaborative Online Wiki Websites. Secure, Share, Manage Wiki Websites and Pages Online. create free hosted group wikis and edit them collaboratively. 

**Web Based Collaboration (Not a wiki or Blog) **
**Google Docs** @http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html //Google Docs// is an excellent application for collaboration. You can share documents and spreadsheets and collaborate with your team/clients in real-time. Being a browser-based application – the requirements to get up and running is very minimal. Storing your work online means they’re readily available anywhere with an internet connection.

@http://www.zoho.com Zoho.com offers a comprehensive suite of award-winning on-line business, productivity & collaboration applications. Customers use Zoho Applications to run their business processes, manage their information and be more productive while at the office or on the go, without having to worry about expensive or outdated hardware or software. To date, Zoho.com has launched 22 online applications — from CRM to Mail, Office Suite, Project Management, Invoicing, Web conferencing and more.
 * ZoHo Productivity & Collaboration Apps**

@http://www.nicenet.org/ This tool is made just for education and includes document sharing, communication, link sharing, and scheduling.
 * NiceNet**

@http://www.redliner.com/ Students working on a group project that requires editing will enjoy using this tool that allows multiple users to easily edit Word documents.
 * Redliner**

@http://etherpad.com/ This web-based word processor allows multiple users to work simultaneously on a document. Each person’s work is highlighted in a different color to keep everything understandable.
 * EtherPad**

@http://writeboard.com Groups can write, collaborate, share their individual work, and more with this simple and free web-based tool.
 * Writeboard**

= Online Communication Tools =

= = **Skype ** @http://www.skype.com/ Skype is a voice over internet "telephone" service that lets you call other Skype users for free. With a webcam, you can make free video calls, too. Talk with authors, create collaborative projects, chat with experts--all for free! [|The Learning Librarian] offers a  [|manual] (.doc) she developed for her school's Skype use. You might also want to see authors who will Skype with your school at the [|Skype An Author Network]. Many authors will chat with your students for 10-15 minutes for free! You can also arrange longer Skype visits with them for a fee. (The fee is for the author, NOT for Skype. Skype is free!) 

**TokBox **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> @http://www.tokbox.com Free video chat and video mail for up to 20 people. Video call you AIM, MSN, GMail and Yahoo Buddies.<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 132%;">

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 131%;">Meebo **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> @http://www.meebo.com The web platform for Instant Messaging everywhere. Connects you to MSN, Yahoo, AOL/AIM, MySpace, FaceBook, GoogleTalk, and many more.

@http://www.coveritlive.com/ Web based software takes your next live blog to a new level. Your commentary publishes in real time like an instant message. 'One-click’ publishing lets you drop polls, videos, pictures, ads and audio clips as soon as they come to mind. Comments and questions from your readers instantly appear but you control what gets published
 * CoveritLive**

@http://www.chatzy.com/ Chatzy is a good alternative to Facebook, Skype, Windows Live, and other messengers because: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> @http://tinychat.com/ Tinychat is a dead-simple audio and video web communication platform with a rich API.[| tinychat.com] provides disposable conference rooms with a simple url for up to 400 people and up to 12 live audio video streams, that just work, no signup.
 * Chatzy**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Chatzy has no registration steps - your friends can join instantly
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Chatzy is free and has no popup ads
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Chatzy does not require any installation on your computer (= no spyware)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Chatzy works on all major browsers, with any language and through corporate firewalls
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Chatzy is simple and easy to use
 * TinyChat**

@http://todaysmeet.com/ helps you embrace the [|backchannel] and connect with your audience in realtime. Encourage the room to use the live stream to make comments, ask questions, and use that feedback to tailor your presentation, sharpen your points, and address audience needs.
 * TodaysMeet**

@http://www.edmodo.com/ is a microblogging service designed specifically for educational use. Using [|Edmodo] teachers can create a microblogging network for their classes. The latest version of [|Edmodo] updates in real-time so that members of group can quickly respond to each other. [|Edmodo] also provides teachers with a place to post assignment reminders, build an event calendar, and post messages to the group.
 * Edmodo**

@http://presentlyapp.com/ provides a platform for creating your own private micro-blogging community. The free version of [|Present.ly] lets you create a community based on your email domain.
 * Present.ly**

= File Sharing =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 133%;">**<span class="wiki_link_ext">drop.io ** @http://drop.io/ Use drop.io to privately share your files and collaborate in real time by web, email, phone, mobile, and more. Create each drop in two clicks and share what you want, how you want, with whom you want. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">

@http://www.filedropper.com/ is a free and very easy way to share files up to 5GB. To use File Dropper simply upload your file and File Dropper assigns it a unique URL that you can then share with anyone. [|File Dropper] is not nearly as feature-rich as Drop.io and similar file hosting and sharing services, but it is free and upload times are fast.
 * File Dropper**