Working+in+Collaboration

=**Working in Collaboration**=

=*Still under construction* **Still under construction *****Still under construction ***= Based on your feedback we have created the following structure for the kit. Feel free to use this as a starting point and either following it or take creative license with it.**

=**Define topic**= Collaboration in the classroom is very important. It builds the relationships between teacher and student, increases trust, shares responsibility, increases friendship groups and builds leadership skills among many other things. Collaboration is nothing new, however with the increasing use of web2.0 technology and social media there are now many new and exciting ways to collaborate both within the classroom as well as all around the world. Collaboration is not only limited to within the teacher student realm, for us to become better teachers we need to be collaborating with our peers, both within our own school but also around the world. Collaboration between teachers is important for learners because it increases the knowledge base from which the teacher is drawing their instructional material. Unfortunately this currently in many schools is a foreign practice as many teachers don't share with other teachers, this is for many reasons including lack of time, not wanting to be wrong and feeling that their ideas are not good enough. Collaboration in the classroom can look like small groups working on rich problem based tasks, students collaborating with their teachers to create individual learning plans or students ICT's collaborating with other students both within the school and around the world.

=**Ideas for Educators**= =Reading & Videos= A collection of interesting readings related to collaborative classrooms and the benifits of collaboration 6 interesting readings
 * **Group Size and organisation:** Research suggests that the best size for a group within a classroom is 5, this allows for the best consensus, once groups get larger there is more indecision. Within a on-line group it is also recommended that groups be no larger than 5 as in the on-line environment it is sometimes harder to get a group together at the same time. If you always use group work with your classes there is some merit in having semi permanent groups so that the students are able to build a relationship with their group members, and encourage deeper learning once the students feel comfortable with their peers. Within your groups it is a good idea to have a recorder, checker and presenter who rotate regularly.
 * **Team Assignments -** Create assignments which are group based, and run for a extended period of time. Assignments can be as structured or flexible as you choose. Give students the choice allocate roles, decide how they will present their learning and at times what they will learn.
 * Problem Solving: Pose a question for groups of students to answer, give a time limit.
 * **Group Editing:** Groups of students can work together to write a group story or report. Use an application such as Google docs to all work on the same document at the same time.
 * **Story Writing:** Create a document and have each member of a class or group write a paragraph or
 * Shall we say at least 10 practical ideas?
 * Shall we say at least 10 practical ideas?

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A collection of interesting [|YouTube Videos]

=Tools for topic= There are literally 100's of tools which can be used for working collaboratively in the on-line, the one's which are listed here are tried and tested tools that the author has used within their lessons and teacher planning.
 * Google Products**
 * Docs
 * Blogger
 * Sites
 * Wallwisher**
 * 32 Ways to use Wallwisher
 * Use Wallwisher to introduce topics, ga
 * [|TodaysMeet]**
 * Todays Meet can be used as a back channel when presenting to a group of students or adults. It is also useful for a group to collaborate real time, you can only type 140 characters, so is useful for short conversations.
 * Wikispaces**
 * 18 interesting ways to use a wiki
 * Will you type with me**
 * Real time document collaboration, use this to create units of work with teachers from other schools or districts, students can use to create, or edit documents together.

=Sample lesson/unit plans=
 * You don't have to create these, you could find them from other sources like Curriki.org.
 * You could include a lesson plan that you have created.


 * Additional resources & links
 * Anything else that you want to share on the topic

==Navigation ( We can leave this on the bottom of every page so that people can jump around )==
 * Home
 * About the Authors (everyone add your own - we'll put them alphabetically by the first letter of your first name)
 * Introduction (Blue group)
 * Core Academic Knowledge (Blue group)
 * Critical/Divergent Thinking (Red group)
 * Complex Problem Solving (Red group)
 * Effective Communication (Orange group)
 * Working in Collaboration (Orange group)
 * Learning how to Learn (Green group)
 * Global Perspective (Yellow group)
 * Real World Application (Yellow group)
 * Video tutorial or Teacher Quick Start Guide (Green group)