TOP PICKS | 33 TOOLS
Best Student-Collaboration Tools
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Drawp for School - Create. Learn. Collaborate.
Blank canvas will help kids express themselves creatively
Bottom line: This handy tool encourages collaboration and creative expression, and it makes sharing assignments and giving feedback a snap for teachers.
Makers Empire
Stellar 3D design hub promotes innovation, collaboration, and creation
Bottom line: This is a great design and creation tool that teachers and students can use to be innovative and share ideas with a vibrant community of makers.
Minecraft: Education Edition
Stellar collaboration tools, controls make Minecraft classroom-ready
Bottom line: An excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking is now more accessible than ever to teachers.
NowComment
Rich collaboration and discussion site engages students and teachers
Bottom line: It's a versatile discussion platform for teaching, peer reviewing, and fostering active reading, and offers much more than traditional word processors.
VoiceThread
Easily collaborate and create with voice, video, or image
Bottom line: A powerful tool for kids to create, collaborate, and share all kinds of multimedia.
Popplet
A compact, simple organizational tool for minimalist presentation
Bottom line: Great web-based presentation tool for beginners.
Skype
Live video communication has potential to open lots of doors
Bottom line: With a bit of work and a measure of patience, Skype can be an excellent classroom tool to expand students' horizons.
GroupMaker
Improve classroom management and encourage collaborative work
Bottom line: Don't be deceived by the design; multiple tools lie within this handy classroom-management tool.
MURAL
Multifaceted message boards help kids collaborate
Bottom line: MURAL can encourage individual team members to contribute to a project by making idea sharing and presentation a simple, visual process.
Spiral
Provide instant feedback with collaborative, multimedia assessment tool
Bottom line: Engaging, easy-to-use tool that supports both formative and summative assessment while allowing for student collaboration.
GooseChase EDU
Digital scavenger hunts provide dynamic, fresh learning experiences
Bottom line: Students and teachers will enjoy the powerful learning of a modern scavenger hunt.
Minecraft
Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep
Bottom line: An irresistible and seemingly limitless incubator for 21st-century skills that, with a little guidance, can chart new courses for learning.
PenPal Schools
Give students global perspective with pen pal projects in any subject
Bottom line: A thoughtful, ready-to-go platform that facilitates authentic, cross-cultural collaboration.
ePals
Kids learn together in well-rounded, collaborative global classroom
Bottom line: A safe communication system and excellent learning materials help create a global youth community.
Actively Learn
Empowering social ereader keeps kids actively, independently engaged
Bottom line: Far beyond the average ereader, this tool helps students connect and stay engaged while teachers easily measure progress.
Classcraft
Track behavior, motivate students with clever, cooperative game
Bottom line: Classcraft is a fantastic game for encouraging positive behavior while students build knowledge and develop communication and collaboration skills.
CueThink
Social approach to problem-solving promotes deep math learning
Bottom line: CueThink is an innovative, community-based platform that helps students plan, strategize, and collaborate.
Explain Everything
Powerhouse tool for creating stellar multimedia presentations
Bottom line: Teachers and students can make dynamic presentations that involve different types of media in this innovative, fun app.
MightyMeeting
Real-time, collaborative presentation tool can promote active viewing
Bottom line: MightyMeeting gives teachers more freedom to engage and monitor the class during a lesson, and the opportunity to have students co-construct knowledge.
Google Drive
Nifty tool for collaboratively editing and syncing files across devices
Bottom line: Google Drive is a smart choice for budget-conscious schools, with its free productivity tools and file syncing.
Google Hangouts
Communication, learning, and fun converge nicely in Google's slick platform
Bottom line: It runs like a dream, works on all devices, and can be used in so many ways to enhance interactive learning.
Microsoft Teams
Collaborative platform helps manage multiple groups and projects
Bottom line: It offers a ton of options for integrating learning; the lack of some typical LMS features may make it a better fit for small groups or nontraditional group configurations.
Padlet
Create and collaborate via interactive multimedia bulletin boards
Bottom line: The versatility of Padlet presents kids with opportunities to share content and knowledge in ways most comfortable for them.
Peergrade
Feedback tool with great rubrics might work best for older students
Bottom line: With appropriate teacher support, this could be a powerful way to help teach your students about giving and receiving critical feedback.
YO Teach!
Backchannel tool offers interactive polls, drawing, messages, and more
Bottom line: Quick setup and multimodal features make this a great fit for a variety of carefully monitored classroom discussions.
Diigo
Social bookmarking encourages discovery, collaboration, and sharing
Bottom line: With a Diigo educator account, teachers and students have a safe space to organize, customize, and share Web content while learning about a variety of subjects.
Scratchwork
Intelligent collaborative whiteboard opens up new ways to create math
Bottom line: This flexible tool is great for student groups to upload, manipulate, and share math projects.
Story Wars
Read, write, and vote on engaging collaborative storytelling site
Bottom line: A cool, competitive approach to online storytelling with a lot of learning potential -- just be aware of the iffy content and licensing risks.
Tricider
Ask questions, brainstorm ideas with responsive voting tool
Bottom line: Used creatively and wisely, Tricider can set the stage for some great classroom conversations.
Genius
Collaborative tool lets users annotate songs, literature, web content
Bottom line: Students can collaboratively engage in the process of annotation and analysis with various texts -- both within the forum and on the web.
Siftr
Collect images in the field with simple, collaborative app
Bottom line: An easy way to crowdsource location-based data.
Piazza
Advanced Q&A tool compels collaboration, higher-order thinking
Bottom line: Encourage collaborative, student-centered learning with this useful platform, but make sure it's the right fit for your students.
