Keypals - E-mail is exchanged electronically by individual students or classes.

Global Classrooms - Two or more classrooms study a common topic together and share information.

Electronic Appearances - “Special guests” are made available by newsgroups or bulletin boards to answer student e-mail or “chat” in real-time.

Question and Answer Services - Experts are available to answer students electronic mail.

Electronic Mentoring or Telementoring - Subject matter specialists from universities, business, government, etc. mentor students. Matching services often help to unite groups and experts.

Impersonations - Participants communicate “in character”. Characters on-line have included Thomas Jefferson, Santa Claus and numerous book characters.

Information Exchanges - Book reviews, teenage fashion preferences, international eating habits, weather info, recycling practices, tourist sites etc. are examples of data that can be exchanged without overwhelming teacher management.

Database Creation - Information is collected and organized into a database for use by other project participants.

Pooled Data Analysis - Information is collected at multiple sites and combined for analysis. In tele-election analysis, an attempt is made to explain voting patterns throughout the country. In the Global Grocery List project, an attempt was made to determine reasons for price differences.

Electronic Publishing - Project participants produce a common document, such as a newspaper, poem or magazine.

Tele-Fieldtrips - Teachers and students share observations and experiences made during local field trips. Classes also participate in organized expeditions like Africa Quest where daily logs are shared by explorers.

Information Searches - Clues are given and students use reference sources to solve problems.

Electronic Process Writing - Participants exchange and critique each other's writing. Professional writers sometimes offer constructive criticism to students during the writing process.

Sequential Creations - Participants progressively create a common written text, a shared visual image, or a collaboratively-constructed computer program.

Parallel Problem Solving - A similar problem is solved separately by participants in various locations. Whether it is a mathematics word problem or a scientific experiment, problem-solving methods and results are shared.

Virtual Gatherings - Participants in various locations are able to participate in a real-time computer moderated meeting or simultaneously participate "in spirit" in similar activities at different project sites.

Simulations - Real experiences are simulated on-line, such as the Space Shuttle Program. These projects may require extensive coordination and maintenance.

Social Action Projects - Students explore and attack action-oriented projects that address important global issues. Students learn they can make a difference by becoming involved in protecting endangered animals, feeding hungry people or stopping violence in their communities.

• Start simple! ! ! ! !
  
• Fulfill your commitments.
  
• Be willing to learn.
  
• Be willing to ask for help.
  
• Be persistent but prepare for the unexpected.
  

• Select a project that will bring feedback to the entire class.
  
• Make sure it complements your instructional program.
  
• Check to see that it contains good basic project elements:
  

• Introduce the topic and do initial research if necessary.
  
• Inform parents and invite participation if possible.
  
• Divide students into small teams with specific duties for each team member.
  
• List all steps needed to complete project.
  
• Review proper netiquette.
  
• Review AUP and follow all requirements.
  

• Send the initial “Hello” message as a group effort.
  
• Require students to keep individual or group logs.
  
• Schedule periodic group reports.
  
• Share results from each group through student “scribes”.
  
• Exchange lesson plans and ideas with other teacher participants.
  

• Students write thank-you notes to participants.
  
• Students prepare questions about the project.
  
• Students practice answering questions.
  
• Students organize information into a sharable format.
  
• Students make presentations to other classes and the “community”.
  
• Teacher shares thoughts on the experience with other teacher participants.

1. Before you begin a project of your own, participate in a project facilitated by someone else. Be aware that your own project will take time to plan and implement. Keep in mind that other teachers and students will be counting on you to complete with the project.
   
   
2. Always plan the project with very specific goals in mind. Keep your curriculum in mind because the more closely the project is aligned to your instructional objectives, the more meaningful it will be for your students.
   
   
3. Choose what type of project you would like to design: interpersonal exchange, information gathering and sharing, or collaborative problem solving.
   
   
4. Develop a detailed timeline for your project with definite start and end dates as well as very specific benchmarks. Always make sure any deadlines for responses are clearly stated within the timeline. Announcing the project in a call for collaboration should take place several weeks (sometimes 6-8 weeks) before the start date of the event.
   
   
5. You may want to test the project with a friend or colleague first to work out any technical problems or kinks in the project design. This dress rehearsal is important to ensure that things go smoothly when schools and classes from outside the school district are involved.
   
   
6. In your call for collaboration, you should include the following:
   
   • Title of project (clever titles attract participants) and brief description or summary
     
   • Instructional goals and objectives you plan to meet
     
   • Grade level of desired participants (Some literature recommends you leave this out to avoid discouraging potential participants.)
     
   • How many participants will you accept? (You may want to have some stand-by participants in case someone drops out.)
     
   • Project facilitator’s name, location, and e-mail address (School name, address, and phone and fax numbers are optional.)
     
   • Project timeline with beginning dates, ending dates and important benchmarks
     
   • Examples of the types of writing or information you will expect the students to collect/submit
     
   • Information on how the results of the project will be distributed or shared
     
   • Complete instructions for registering for the project which might include:
     
     • participant’s full name
       
     • e-mail address
       
     • school name
       
     • school address
       
     • school phone
       
     • school fax
       
     • school district
       
     • grade level(s)
       
     • subject(s) taught
   
   
   
7. Post your “call for collaboration” in multiple locations at least 6-8 weeks before the beginning date of the project. Also, you may want to post it again about 2 weeks before the start date if the desired number of participants has not been reached. See last section of this handout for places to post your project.
   
   
8. Train students to assist you with the various tasks involved in the project.
   
   
9. Always complete the project. There is nothing more frustrating to the participants than for the facilitator to “drop the ball” and give up on finishing the venture.
   
   
10. Share the results with the participants. Have the students collaborate on a written summary of the project which would include how they participated, what they learned, and what changes they would make, if any. Share these results on the major listservs to help others planning similar projects. Send a thank you note to all who participated. You may want to send a hard copy of the summary and results to the principals of the schools involved to help reinforce innovative uses of technology in their buildings.

Apple Learning Interchange

URL: http://www.ali.apple.com
Join Our Community

NickNacks Telecollaborate

URL: http://www1.minn.net/~schubert/post.html
Post Your Project

International Email Classroom Connections Project

URL: http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc
E-mail to: iecc-projects-request@stolaf.edu
Message body: subscribe

Global SchoolNet Project Announcements

URL: http://www.gsn.org
E-mail to: majordomo@gsn.org
Message body: subscribe hilites

Classroom Connect Database

URL: http://www.connectedteacher.com/home.asp
E-mail sign-up: http://www.connectedteacher.com/listServ/subscribe.asp

Kidsphere

URL: http://shops.net/shops/owners/eegtti/eeg_245.html
E-mail to: kidsphere@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Message body: subscribe kidsphere <Your Name>

Houghton Mifflin Project Center

URL: http://www.eduplace.com/projects
E-mail to: projects@hmco.com

International Educational and Resource Network (I*EARN)

URL: http://www.igc.apc.org/iearn/projects.html
E-mail to: iearn@iearn.org

¹ 1 Harris, Judi (1993) Mining the Internet, The Computing Teacher