Collaboration

First, here's a sample of a way I used Cover-it-Live and Twiddla to tutor my AP Calculus students online the evening before a test. The students who couldn't make it due to work or other commitments said the next day that everything on the website helped them a great deal since they were able to go back and read what the other students had done. AP Calculus tutoring

Do you stay after school to tutor your students? Maybe from 2:30 to 3:00? Do they ever need to stay longer, but you have to get home? Why not have "office hours" later in the evening? Maybe once a week ... maybe just for extra review before a test or quiz, or to help out on a project. A great way to communicate with them is through an embedded chat room on your website. Cover it Live is great to use, because you set the times it will be open. It can be completely moderated by you the whole time it's open, and once you close it the other students can go back and read what was said at any time using the replay button.

Whiteboards
Sometimes a "chat" about math just isn't enough. If you need to work out problems together, use one of these online collaborative whiteboards. You and your kids can write in it at the same time, and there is a chat within each of them so you don't have to toggle back and forth between the board and your other chat. There are some features of each site listed after its link, but you should check out each one to determine your own personal preference. There is really something nice and different about each one.

Scriblink Dabbleboard Twiddla Scribblar Cosketch
 * Up to 6 people can join this whiteboard together.
 * You do not create an account here.
 * It has the Sitmo equation editor!
 * You can only have one page to write on. The only way to get a new page is to clear everything that is on it.
 * You can save, print, or send the final page of your board.
 * You don't HAVE to create an account here, but if you do, you can copy drawings from their toolkits, and add them to your personal library.
 * You can add pages to this one!
 * You can insert a document - for example, a worksheet with problems on it - and then write over top of the document.
 * If you click on the T for text when you start to type, you will find a Math option. This contains a limited number of symbols (like an integral sign, summation, etc.) for you to use.
 * You can download a picture of your work to your computer.
 * You can embed this as an image or a widget into a webpage.
 * You don't need to sign up for an account here.
 * You can't add an extra page here, but I have made the page longer by inserting a document
 * This also has the Sitmo equation editor!
 * You can embed a widget into this page!
 * You can save a snapshot of the current screen as a png to your computer.
 * For this one, you MUST create an account
 * You can create a room, and go back to that room later.
 * You can embed a "link" to your room on our wiki. (You can supposedly also embed the room itself, but that did not work for me).
 * You can create multiple pages in your room!
 * This has a lot of nice options, but an equation editor is not one of them. =(
 * No sign up.
 * Only one page.
 * No equation editor.
 * Pretty limited in some aspects, but neat things the others don't have:
 * a library of images for electronics and mechanics
 * easy to upload Google maps

For informal help any time, you can always be available on Skype. My students know my skype name is michelle.hapich. I never video or voice chat with them, so everything is always in writing and on record if you need it. I only get the occasional skype at home in the evening. I also tell them that if they have a laptop in class, that they can skype me after a lesson or while they're doing homework in class when I'm not there and they have a substitute.

Need to teach a lesson but you'll be out ... maybe away at a technology conference? =) You teach AP Statistics but your substitute teaches social studies?? Well not to worry ... you can teach your students their lesson even though you're not there. Use one of the whiteboards above if you don't have an IWB with its own software, and record your lesson using a screencast recorder. There are many out there, both paid and free. Check out two free tools and some other extras you might want to use on the "extras" page.

Here's an example of one I made, and one that my students made.

Also, if you have a wiki , your students can use the discussion tabs to help each other. If you have a blog , you could post a topic or homework assignment, and the students can comment on that post to discuss problems.

