I used it with my Spanish as a Second Language students, and was pleasantly surprised that the kids were able to effectively communicate with me and with each other.
Community Review for Collaborize Classroom
My Take
I liked this tool because it was a quick way for me to check student understanding, but it required students to be savvy on the keyboard and also for them to be able to log in to the site. While it is very good about protecting student privacy (only students you allow into your "social network" may respond), it did take time to set up my classes, give out their passwords, and get them used to logging in- third graders are not as used to social media as their older peers, but they are getting there.
How I Use It
I used it with my students to have them respond to a book we were reading whole class. Every student had to respond to a question I posted after each chapter, and then they also had to comment on the responses of at least two other students. They had some difficulty because they were unfamiliar with the keyboard, but the more we did it, the more practiced they got. Eventually, I got them to write out their answers on a notebook before typing it in, but their comments to their colleagues were sometimes quite interesting.