Presentation for the Western Australian Catholic Education Primary Curriculum Conference, July 30th, 2012

1. Using ICT to
Collaborate on
a World Scale
Lisa Gallin
St Joseph’s Primary School
Waroona
Lisa Gallin 2012

2. Why Collaborate?
• Provides a wider, authentic audience.
• Learn from “experts”.
• Raise awareness of global issues.
• Highlight similarities and differences.
• Learn about culture, geography, climate and language.
• Sharing learning makes it more memorable and
meaningful.
• Make the most of some amazing tools
available to us.
• It’s how things are done in “real life”.
• It’s fun!
Lisa Gallin 2012

3. What are some ideas
for collaborating
with other classrooms?
Lisa Gallin 2012

4. Blogging
http://thesmarties2.blogspot.com
• Class and individual student blogs.
• Model and teach commenting skills.
• Articulate and show-off learning.
• Follow other blogs from around the
world to learn new things.
Lisa Gallin 2012

5. Lisa Gallin 2012

6. www.kidblog.org
Lisa Gallin 2012

7. Lisa Gallin 2012

8. Pass the Blog
http://passtheblog.creativeblogs.net
• Project set up by a teacher in the
UK.
• 52 classes from around the world
take responsibility for a shared
blog for one week,
creating a year-long
project.
Lisa Gallin 2012

9. Lunch Project
http://lunchboxexchange.wikispaces.com
• Each class writes about what they
eat for lunch at school in a week
and the routines associated with it.
• Shared on a wiki with photos.
• Make comparisons.
• Mail favourite snacks.
Lisa Gallin 2012

10. Lisa Gallin 2012

11. Snail and the Whale
http://snailandwhaleproject.edublogs.org
• Project run by a New Zealand class.
• Based on a book.
• They send the toys around the world and
the host classes send them photos and
details of their adventures.
• Snail and Whale have
their own blog!
Lisa Gallin 2012

12. Lisa Gallin 2012

13. Flat Stanley
http://www.flatstanley.com
• Links to literacy.
• Connect with another class and
send Flat Stanley, writing about his
experiences with your class.
• Flat Stanley app available.
Lisa Gallin 2012

14. Monster Project
http://monstermayhem.wikispaces.com
• Authentic literacy task, focusing on
descriptions and interpreting text.
• Each child draws a monster and
describes it.
• Exchange the written descriptions with
the other class and they
draw the monsters based
on the writing.
• Share original drawings
and compare.
Lisa Gallin 2012

15. Lisa Gallin 2012

16. Postcard Project
http://leakeysblog.edublogs.org/the-postcard-project
• Leave a comment on this blog and
you’ll receive an email confirming
your access to the google doc with
the contact details of
schools in the project.
• Send some postcards
and wait for some to
be sent back!
Lisa Gallin 2012

17. Photo Challenge
• Class takes photos based on daily topics.
• Share via a blog or wiki.
• Fun way to practise taking photos.
• Interesting to compare interpretations of topics.
Lisa Gallin 2012

18. http://marvellousmerewetherheights.edublogs.org
Lisa Gallin 2012

19. Sharing Culture
http://eastertraditions.wikispaces.com
• Invite other classes to share their
traditions and post on a wiki.
• Learn from the “experts” instead of from
a book, or website.
Romania
Ukraine
Lisa Gallin 2012

20. Collaborative
Story-Writing
http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/tale-
trail.html
• Six classes collaborated to write a
story together and published it on
their blogs.
• Made it into an audio book.
Lisa Gallin 2012

21. Other Ideas
• Virtual book club – Study the same book
at the same time as another class and
share your work.
• Practise LOTE –Find a class in Italy to
communicate with so students can
practise Italian.
• School Environments – Compare
the buildings and surrounds
of your schools.
Lisa Gallin 2012

22. • Share skills – Create videos, or write
explanations to teach others a skill (eg.
dance, recipe, etc).
• Native Animals – Research native
animals of Australia and communicate
with a class somewhere else so you can
teach each other about your local
animals.
• Weather – Record daily weather
for a few weeks and
compare the results to
a class in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Lisa Gallin 2012

23. Where do I find
other classrooms
to collaborate with?
Lisa Gallin 2012

24. Blogging
http://theedublogger.com/
check-out-these-class-
blogs
Lisa Gallin 2012

25. Skype in
the Classroom
http://education.skype.co
m
• Register on this website to join in a range of
projects.
• Classes organise to Skype each other to share
ideas, experiences or knowledge.
•Search by age, language, or project.
Lisa Gallin 2012

26. ePals
www.epals.com
• Create a class profile and connect with other
teachers and classrooms around the world.
• Ready made projects to participate in, or simply
contact a teacher to organise your own.
Lisa Gallin 2012

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28. Projects by Jen
http://projectsbyjen.com
• A range of projects including Oreo
towers, weather and a Christmas
card exchange.
Lisa Gallin 2012

29. Twitter
https://twitter.com
• Create a professional twitter
network.
• Follow other teachers.
• Keep an eye out for projects to
join, or invite others
to join yours.
Lisa Gallin 2012

30. School Web Sites
• Email schools directly to ask if they
have any teachers interested in
collaborating.
Lisa Gallin 2012

31. How do we
collaborate?
Lisa Gallin 2012

32. Wikis
http://www.wikispaces.com/content/teacher
• An easy to use method of publishing on the
web.
• All teachers involved can have access to post
and edit, so it’s not all left to one person!
• Create pages for different
aspects of the project.
• Ad-free and cost free when
you sign up through the
teacher page.
Lisa Gallin 2012

33. Blogs
• Read and interact with other
bloggers by commenting on their
posts on a regular basis.
• Create blogs for specific purposes.
Eg. Use a blog as a platform to
publish video, audio, photographs
and text about books your
class reads.
Lisa Gallin 2012

34. VoiceThread
http://voicethread.com
• Free for a basic account.
• Upload a picture and have students leave
audio, or video comments.
• Embed in blogs or wikis and have other
classes comment too.
Lisa Gallin 2012

35. Skype
http://www.skype.com
• Collaborate via video chat.
• Time zones can be tricky!
• Plan the chat, or have questions
ready to ask.
Lisa Gallin 2012

36. Email
• Create a class email account, or
have students use individual
accounts to correspond with e-pals.
Lisa Gallin 2012

37. Google Docs
https://docs.google.com
• Allows documents to be shared, or
written collaboratively.
• Create a spreadsheet to record
weather observations.
• Create a text document
to jointly publish stories
or poems.
Lisa Gallin 2012

38. Snail Mail
• Use it to send small gifts, shared
resources, letters, etc.
• Can help to make the other
children more “real”.
• It’s very exciting to receive
something in the mail!
Lisa Gallin 2012

39. My Tips
• Communicate clearly with the other
teacher(s) and make your aims and
objectives clear.
• Set time frames, but be flexible.
• Communicate often.
• Follow up the project
with student reflection.
• Say thankyou!
• Aim for 1-2 projects
per year.
Lisa Gallin 2012

40. Lisa Gallin
St Joseph’s, Waroona
gallin.lisa@cathednet.wa.edu.au
http://lisagallin.wikispaces.com
http://thesmarties2.blogspot.com
Lisa Gallin 2012