If your classroom looked anything like mine there were students working collaboratively at any given moment. Virtual learning has thrown a wrench into students working together, but today I am coming to you, in the next post of our virtual learning series, all about collaboration during distance learning.
I will be sharing some apps and websites that will help your students collaborate from afar. You may even find some of these tools helpful for teaching and lesson planning.
Pocket is a free device (there is a paid version) that allows you to put content in your “pocket” and return to it later. This means you can access content when not connected to the internet. This is a great tool for when you stumble upon something that would be good for a unit or a lesson down the road. Keep all your materials at your fingertips! Your students could also use it for doing group projects. They can download articles and share them via the Pocket app. Visit https://getpocket.com/ to read more and make a free account.
Zotero
Zotero is a free research tool. This is a great tool for researching and citing works from the internet. There are many things you can do with the Zotero software, but the best for virtual learning is creating collaborative groups. Students can work together to gather information while being apart. Check it out by visiting https://www.zotero.org/
Trello
Maybe you have heard of Trello before. Maybe you even use it for yourself! Trello is a great free resource for distance learning and group work online because you can collaborate, share ideas, and information all in one place. Your students can divide tasks, make a list of things to do, share research, pictures, etc. all in one place! Visit: https://trello.com/ to learn more and sign up!
Google Slides
Your students can work together to create a presentation from the comfort of their own homes. They will create a new presentation, add the slides necessary and give editing rights to their group members. This way each member can work on the slides and add their information!
Do you have any resources for collaboration tools for distance learning? Share them in the comments below! If you missed the first post in this series you can read all about scavenger hunts for distance learning here!
