COLLABORIZE CLASSROOM WEB 2.0 TOOLS BY: GRACE COLLINS

WHAT IS COLLABORIZE CLASSROOM? Collaborize Classroom is a Web 2.0 tool. It is a free online collaborative education platform that allows students and teachers to transcend the boundaries of their physical classroom to engage in an online collaborative learning environment. Collaborize Classroom offers a variety of compelling and intuitive structures for online discussion that are designed to support innovative teaching and promote higher level thinking. While it supports in-class instruction, it also helps with the flipped- classroom model.

COLLABORIZE CLASSROOM FEATURES THE PLATFORM: Easy-to-use online learning platform. Launch a free site in less than 5 minutes! Safe and password-protected learning community for you and your students. STRUCTURED CONVERSATIONS: Streamline conversations and drive to specific learning outcomes with structured topic types. Take a poll, hold a debate, post a practice test or let your students support their arguments. Launch student-driven projects and challenge-based learning.

FEATURES CONTINUED ATTACHMENTS: Bring the best resources from the Internet into your online classroom by attaching pictures, videos, PDF or Microsoft Office® Documents. Make conversations more fun and interactive by accommodating different learning styles. Connect lessons and assignments to real-world issues, in real time. RESULTS: Show tangible outcomes of your students’ online participation to drive deeper discussions and activities in class. Easily gauge student understanding. Use student-driven results to create new lessons and assignments.

MORE FEATURES GROUPS: Support customized learning and differentiation by allowing teachers to post two versions of the same topic or task to accommodate different learning styles. Provide extra credit opportunities to challenge a group of students based on their capabilities. Create groups based on class period, learning abilities, special assignments, practice test groups, language proficiency, etc. TOPIC LIBRARY: Instant access to a vast and growing collection of teacher-designed lessons. Create topics, lessons and assignments that you can share with other educators worldwide.

WEBSITE EXAMPLE

EXAMPLE CONTINUED In this example the teacher created a strong question. The question that encouraged reflection on the topic, stimulated higher-level thinking skills, and invite da variety of perspectives. Following this question, the teacher could: Propose a new idea for feedback. Ask for clarification or further explanation. Ask students to make a connection between the topic and another piece of literature, a movie, or something they have personally experienced. Invite students to draw a different conclusion or share another perspective. Pose a follow-up question. Encourage others to ask questions about the points you made if anything was confusing or unclear.

MY EXAMPLE

MY EXAMPLE CONTINUED With my example, I would utilize Collaborize Classroom as an introduction or pre-reading activity to the book, The Diary of Anne Frank. Students would be exposed to the topic and the time period. The initial questions would be followed up with group research activities and/or projects.

COLLABORIZE CLASSROOM OTHER USES Collaborize Classroom would work great for the following: A pre-reading project Faculty meetings (collaborize ideas or school events) Daily warm-ups Homework follow-up Reading comprehension Quiz or survey This tool could easily be adapted or used in all subjects and/or disciples.

TEACHER TESTIMONIALS “My students and I love Collaborize Classroom! This is probably one of the most effective teaching tools I have! As a matter of fact, I just put together a demonstration for the teachers here at MMS last week during our Technology Day and many of them have already signed up and are planning to use this wonderful site in their own classrooms! I wanted to pass on this engaging tool to all the teachers in our building and it was so rewarding to see their excitement for your product!” - Kim Hopper, Middle School Language Arts Teacher “Collaborize Classroom is, hands down, one of the greatest things to happen to my teaching. It’s reduced my paper-load significantly and has increased student participation and confidence. I love that students can read and comment on one another’s work and that their discussion starts at home between peers and then continues when they come into my classroom, rather than the conversation starting in the classroom with me and hopefully extending to the few students who are willing to speak up in front of their classmates.”- Megan Ellis, Middle School English Teacher

TEACHER TESTIMONIAL: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER CATLIN TUCKER Video