Week 25: Getting Started with Collaborative Online Projects

Homework for the Teacher
It is very important to spend this class session simply exploring the huge variety of collaborative projects available on the Web. In addition to the Week 25 activities, take a minute to browse Surf Report's Guide to Web-based Projects. While you’re taking the time to see what other educators have done, and thinking about which projects to pursue or design, keep this image in mind.

On the other hand, some of the best intentions in the area of online collaborative projects can turn sour very quickly if you’re not prepared. Take a few valuable minutes to learn from the mistakes made by Terry Kerns. In a February 1, 1997, TechLearning article, Designing Collaborative Projects for the Internet, Kerns states, "Having run more than a dozen such projects in the last few years, some involving more than 300 schools, I have made almost every mistake possible. However, those failures have helped refine my methods of developing and running such projects so that I eagerly look forward to each new one."

Link to Learning and Leading with Technology and read the first 4 paragraphs of an article by Frank Odasz on the rich benefits of using "Collaborative Internet Tools." (Search past issues for Volume 27, #4, Dec./Jan. 1999-2000.) He explains why these interactive reading and writing experiences open up incredible new levels of communication between you and your students.

Here are some other questions you might have, with links to all the answers.

Reading Strategy Spotlight
Retelling or synthesizing requires the putting together of ideas in a new way. It pulls together the processes of recalling, ordering and recreating of information into a coherent whole. It invites students to collect an array of facts and connect them to a central theme or idea. Giving students the opportunity to synthesize generates a deeper understanding of what they read.

Student Activity Sheet
Printable pages designed to complement the current week's Reading Strategy Spotlight and to help students organize their thoughts, reflect upon reading material, and look for organizational patterns in online text.

BBs: Weekly Nuggets of "Best Practices" and "Brain Research"
What are 6 ways movement can help in your classroom? Link to Teachley's!

TechKnow Disaster Preparedness Page
Printable Computer Skills Mini-Posters & activity sheets for those times when the network crashes or equipment is unavailable. You can print a different page each week.

Fifth Grade Computer Skills Test Item Bank
Please retain the security of this test to maintain its validity. Contact your local Media and/or Technology Director for the user name and password to access the item bank.

Check your progress with computer and information skills.

Go back to the Train Ride.