An introduction to collaborative writing tools for educators.

1. Collaborative Writing and Critique

2. Using Wikis Wikis are a great way to create a shared resource that contain either a single document or an entire network of documents. For teacher collaboration, they can be used to gather information that is used by a grade level, course, or building team for a specific project. For student collaboration, they can be used as a platform for collecting and sharing student work. Use the links at the right to see short videos on wiki basics and how to create a wiki.

3. Creating A Single Document If your goal is to create a single document, rather than a network of documents, there are two tools that are useful for this purpose. The ETHERPAD is a really quick and easy tool that opens a window that you can invite people to edit and which has a simultaneous chat window so you can talk about the document as you edit it. Etherpad is being purchased by Google and is likely to end up in the Google Wave product, but until then it is still available. Another tool that is useful for editing a single document is Google Docs. With this tool you can create a document and share it with other users. The differences between Google Docs and Etherpad are that with Google Docs you have to sign in and there is no integrated chat function (yet). Info about using Google Docs in on the next slide. 