My favourite collaborative tools.

Collaboration is such a big word in education right now. I once went to a seminar which began with, and I kid you not 20 different videos or pictures of famous people in films talking about the importance of collaboration. Suffice to say, it was not a good seminar!

Despite this, collaboration in the classroom is something I really believe in. I think it is fundamentally important for pupils to be able to brainstorm ideas and share them together so they have a real chance to learn from one another. Here is a list of a few of the ways I do this in the classroom.

• Padlet and Linoit

Both of these online tools allow a class of children to share their ideas on a certain subject. You can get them to answer a question together, or share what they have learnt from the lesson as part of the plenary. If we are brainstorming we focus on what has been written and then whittle down to which we think are the best suggestions. I would then share the webpage with them so when they are completing homework later on they can refer back to what was suggested and utilise the best ideas.

• Google Docs

This can be used in a number of different ways. I can create a document which they share their ideas into, or they can complete a piece of work with another person without the hassle of sending versions back and forth. They can make slideshows, word documents or spreadsheets. Last night I found this super helpful video explaining how to use collaboration on Google drive.

• Videos

This is a new one for me but next week I am going to try creating videos with my year 7s and 8s as a revision tool. We spend a lot of time brainstorming different Common Entrance questions and talking about how they could be answered. I am planning to get them to record a point for a question and upload it to a folder. When they are all uploaded we will edit them in iMovie and each child will cut together the best points so we will get an idea of what might be written in the answer. I am so hoping it will work, I will report back and let you know!

I’d love to hear any other useful collaboration tools you use in your classroom. Thanks for reading.