Educational Technology – Lisa Toulon

Google is adding to their arsenal of tools by purchasing Writely (see January 7, 2006 post on Web-Based Word Processors and Collaborative Writing for information on Writely).  See Writely’s Blog on this aquisition.

Originally posted to the Illinois Technology Conference for Educator’s Blog – March 1, 2006

I had the pleasure of spending the day with Susim Munshi and Susan Switzer at their Read, Write, and Blog workshop. They have a wonderful support website using 21publish.com at http://learn2blog.21publish.com/ Excellent blog examples are included under the Blog List drop down menu – see “Learning from Reading Blogs” and “Learning from Participation in Blogs”. Also under the Blog List, are some Case Studies. These are scenerios which will be very familiar to teachers. Questions are listed below each to guide the teacher in utilizing blogs with a more constructivist approach to teaching and learning. We then got the opportunity to explore a free blogging publishing community called 21publish. Individual student blogs can be set up under a main umbrella blog like the North River School Blogs or topics for students to comment on like the Learn2Blog site.

Thanks for a wonderful day Susim and Susan.

I have discovered some wonderful free Web-Based Word Processors which support Collaborative Writing.  The three I have loooked at so far are: Writeboard, Jotspot Live, and Writely. 

They have the following features in common:

1.  free service

2.  Available from any Internet connected computer – no software needed

3.  Collaborate with others – enter their email address and an invitation with a link to view and edit is sent

Some optional features include:

1.  Stored versions of various writers (Writeboard, , Writely)

2.  Compare different versions of a document (Writeboard, Writely)

3.  Format text (Writeboard – using simple codes, Writeboard – like Word with toolbar)

4. Add Comments (Writeboard)

5.  Subscribe to documents via RSS and be notified of changes (Writeboard, Writely)

6.  Writers can edit at same time (Jotspot Live, Writely – problem showing who was editing when I tried it)

7.  Multiple pages (Jotspot Live free version – limited to 5 pages per month, Writeboard – create multiple writeboards)

8.  Import and export documents (Writely- both to Word, Writeboard – export as text file only)

9.  Publish the document on the web or post to your blog (Writely)

10.  Organize documents (Writely – using tags, not folders)

11.  Save as zip file (Writely)

Setup information – Name, password, email 

1.  Writeboard – use a password that you do not mind sharing with others if you plan on using it to collaborate with others.

2.  Jotspot Live – each person has own password and ability to set up own 5 pages in addition to sharing.

3.  Writely – Initial person sets up a password.  Random password sent to those invited to collaborate.

Example Screenshots

Writeboard 

Writely

Reflections

While each is relatively easy to use, they have distinct educational applications.  Jotspot Live would be great for group notetaking.  Writeboard is more user-friendly than Writely and therefore may be more appropriate for younger students when collaborating.  Writely, integrates well with Microsoft Word and has a built in file system (using tags).  You can also organize files in Writeboard but separate writeboards need to be setup.  The accompanying “Backpack” service can be used to organize the files.  Comparing versions is easier in Writboard than Writely.  Each has much promise for educational use for Collaborative Writing.