Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

I’ve been experimenting with a variety of online tools for collaborating in “real-time.” I really don’t have much use for them in the classroom, since the different time zones of our various sister classes don’t make it logistically feasible. I’m more interested in exploring their use for possibly coordinating work with teachers of those sister classes if that project continues to expand, and for use in some collaborative writing I might be doing in the future.

Even though I’m thinking about these tools for my own professional reasons, since I’m still not particularly technically proficient, and because others might be able to think of other classroom purposes, I’ve used criteria similar to my other “The Best…” lists in deciding which ones to include here. They include:

* No software download is required.

* It’s free.

* No equipment is required other than, in some cases, a microphone. A webcam needs to be optional.

* Multiple users can collaborate at the same time.

* English Language Learners can use the tools easily.

* I can think of it having an education use.

Unlike my previous lists, I haven’t tried-out all of these applications extensively. Therefore, I don’t feel I can rank them the way I usually do. However, I have had a pretty decent, though limited, experience with all of them.

Also, in this list, unlike my others, instead of including links to the actual application, I’ve mainly included links to my original posts about the sites (that is, I’ve done that for sites I’ve already written about). I thought people might find the additional information they can find there useful.

There are quite a few other online collaborative tools, but I didn’t include them because they just seemed too complicated.

The ones I’ve found that meet my criteria include:

Chatmaker, Stinto and Chatzy are easy ways to create private online chatrooms. Wire Club Chat Room and Today’s Meet are similar sites, though Today’s Meet has a much more attractive interface. Gixaw Chat is yet another way to make an instant chat room. In fact, you can make multiple chat rooms at once, if for some reason you wanted to do that.

Yaplet also lets you create private chatrooms, but with a twist — you can do so on any website you want.

Babelwith.me is the newest addition to this list. No registration is required, and it takes a few seconds to set-up a private chatroom. Of course, a number of other tools on those lists do the that same thing. However, Babelwith.me lets you do it and automatically translates what you’re saying in the recipients language and in the language you’ve written. This last feature could be very helpful with English Language Learners communicating with sister classes in other countries. Another great capability is that the chatrooms themselves appear to stay active indefinitely, so users can come back to them whenever they want to continue the conversation.

Smeet lets you create private 3D rooms where your avatar can chat and interact with other avators. You have register, but no download is necessary. A tool like this one might be useful in an education setting. For example, if students from our International Sister Classes Project were going to communicate in real time, Smeet might be a bit more engaging than some of the other applications on this list.

Yack All is a new application that lets you create a private chatroom.  In one way Yack All is less convenient than most of the ones I’ve mentioned because it requires registration and sign-in (though it’s extremely easy to do so).  One nice feature, though, that Yack All has but many of the others do not is that it saves the chat indefinitely.

I’ve found three online word-processing applications that allow multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously. They are Zoho Writer, Solodox, and my favorite — Just 2 Easy.

Scriblink is an online whiteboard that can be used by up to five people at one time.

Skrbl is another online whiteboard. Skrbl lets you copy and paste text and documents — Scriblink does not.

Zoho Show and Google Presentations let you work with others on PowerPoint-like presentations in real-time.

MeBeam and Tokbox are two online video conferencing sites. They both allow you to just use microphones for audio if you don’t have a webcam. MeBeam lets up to eighteen people participate, while Tokbox lets up to “20-25″ (at that point, there’s some deterioration in audio/video quality).

Meeting 24 is another very easy video conferencing system (though it also appears to work if you just have a mike and not a webcam). Meeting 24, however, allows up to…24 people to take part.

Mind42 is a “mindmapping” tool that has tremendous collaborative features. I’m still having a hard time, though, figuring out more than one or two minor educational projects that students could create with it.

Browzmi is a browser that allows you to look at different websites simultaneously and chat about it with others. I could see it used to collaborate doing research.

Thinkature is another online whiteboard. It has the option of both audio and text chat, which seems to make it different from the other whiteboard sites I listed earlier.

(Note: I’m adding The Broth to this list)

I’ve used the Authorstream web application to post several slideshows on my website. It’s quite easy to use. Now they’ve added a new feature called Present Live. You can quickly upload a PowerPoint presentation and then show it in real-time over the web. A chatboard is connected to it so you can communicate instantly. You can read more of an explanation on how it works over at Mashable. Authorstream itself also has a nice screencast about it.

Scribblar allows you to create a virtual “room” in seconds — without having to register — where you can collaborate for writing or drawing, with the ability to have a text chatboard or audio/webcam communication. It couldn’t be easier to use. If, and when, we can ever coordinate time zones, it would be a neat tool to use for collaborating with others in the International Sister Classes Project.

Show Document couldn’t be much easier for uploading a document and then having multiple people — in real time — editing it and using a chatboard to communicate. No registration is necessary — just upload, get a code number, send it to others, and then you’re all working together.

I’ve just added CoSketch to both The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration and The Best Art Websites For Learning English.

It’s an easy way for English Language Learners and anyone else to collaboratively draw a picture. There’s no real registration necessary, either. You just go to the site, are given a private “virtual room” in which to begin drawing, and then you email the link to whoever else you want to participate. While you’re drawing there’s also a text chat feature to communicate. You can then save the image and either link to it or embed it in a student/teacher blog or website. You can also upload a photo for sharing and discussing.

Students can develop their English skills by communicating via the chat room (for example, mine could do this project with other students in our International Sister Classes Project) and/or posting their image with a description.

The Broth is a similar application. The advantage with The Broth is that the chat messages remain permanently, while it appears with CoSketch that they disappear after you’re done. With CoSketch, though, since you don’t have to register it’s easier to use.

Twiddla is basically a whiteboard that allows text and audio chat for real-time collaboration. You can review websites within the application, and no registration is required.

DimDim lets you have up to twenty people on an audio or video conference, and you can share a whiteboard. It also has a number of other features worth exploring.

Open Huddle seems to have the features that many other sites on this list share — common whiteboard, voice/video chat, etc. Like the others, you create a virtual room (that can be password-protected). One advantage it might have over some of the others is that it appears to allow you to record everything that goes on.

Etherpad is the latest very, very easy way to collaborate in real time. You just paste a bunch of text in a window and, without even having to register for the service, send others the url and everybody can edit it in real time. It also has a chat option. You can go back to the url address at any time to make further, adjustments, too. TokBox, the web-based video chat application, has announced that it has partnered with EtherPad to bring document collaboration straight into TokBox. Now, all Tokbox users can simultaneously collaborate on one text document or “pad”, while chatting in a video call. (Etherpad was bought by Google and is shutting down in March, 2010)

Cha Map is a tool for collaboration in real-time that has several features that make it unique among other tools on this list. Cha Map lets you create a private virtual chat room almost immediately where you can chat while you’re looking at a map. You can supposedly chat with speakers of other languages by using its automatic translation system. Plus, there appears to be some way to use images, too. I’m only placing it here, though, since I haven’t had enough time to fully explore its capabilities.

I’m adding Me Globe to this list. It lets you easily create private chatrooms, but the key here is that instantly translated your messages into any of twelve languages. I don’t think it’s a particularly useful tool for English-language development, but it certainly belongs on this list.

Tiny Chat is the latest addition to this list. It lets you, without registering, immediately create a private chatroom. You email the url to others, who can then participate either in real time . There are other similar tools already on this list, including ones that allow you to participate with audio and/or video messages. But Tiny Chat deserves to be here just because of its ease of use. They’ve also recently added many features, including a video capability. You can read more about the new features at Read Write Web.

Conference.io is the newest addition to this list. It’s extremely simple to use. All you do is go to the site, choose a document to upload from your computer, and send the url address you choose for it to anyone you want. They can then view the document, and you have a live chat ability to discuss it. You don’t have to register, and you don’t need a password.

Presentio looks like a pretty neat online collaboration tool, and I’m adding it to this list. Mashable has quite an extensive post that describes Presentio quite well. I’d encourage you to read it.

Let me know if you are aware of other collaborative applications that would meet my criteria. Links to these sites, along with 8,000 others, can be found on my website.

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