Electronic Communities

There are few places in the world where people work strictly alone to accomplish tasks. Why should schools be any different? The brain is a highly social organism. Collaboration internalizes and solidifies new learning as well as allows students to be more authentically engaged in their work.

A "new world" of collaboration has certainly started with Web 2.0. Wikis and blogs are being utilized more and more in the classroom. Because they are web-based, everyone can easily contribute and edit. Teachers can make comments or monitor to see the level of student contributions. I recommend the following websites for teaching your students to participate with electronic communities as a learner, initiator, contributor, and teacher/mentor.

WIKIS

For teachers new to Wikis
Wiki tutorial for teachers
Free Wikispaces for teachers


BLOGS
Blog Basics
EduBlogs
Teaching with blogs


PODCASTS
Podcasting Guide
Podcasting in Education
Audacity for recording and editing sounds


SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
http://del.icio.us/about/
Corina's del.icio.us site


EMAIL
Free email for schools