"Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal."

I accessed The Technology Toolbox for Educators today and was having a look at some of the technologies it suggests for collaborating. I had heard of a few of these, the most obvious being Google Docs to share files along with Google Hangout and Wiki's. We have been using Google Docs throughout Tasks 2 and 3 as external students to sign up to tasks. 

After attempting to use Powerpoint as a means of trying to express my ideas, I was intrigued by Conceptboard, a team workspace. "Work more efficiently with visual content." This could be a useful technology for Task 3, I thought. I only wish I had read some of this information earlier, so that I had time to explore further. As a visual learner I felt this might be a great way of me expressing my ideas visually. I watched the demonstration video from the link on the Technology Toolbox and was impressed. Unfortunately, this is not a free program and requires a monthly subscription, not really viable for one task but may be a consideration for future teaching.

FlockDraw on the other hand appears to be a free online whiteboard based drawing and painting tool. It does not quite function in the same way. This is only useful only for presenting picture or illustrations and to be honest you would just use an interactive whiteboard. I was a bit disappointed that the site also does not give significant detail of its available features and found that there was no good basic overview videos when searching YouTube for the technology tool. Conceptboard would be my preferred choice as has many features, such as being able to edit screenshots, highlight content, add comments. It allows for cross collaboration,video chat and live view of the board with others. 

After reading this quote by Downes. It has made me realise how it is important to remember that when working in a group, learning to interact with others and sharing is all part of learning to be inclusive as a team."It only works if they are prepared to make talking about what they are doing a part of doing what they are doing” . (Downes, 2006). 

                                        Success = working as a team

The Meaning of Team. Together everyone achieves more!

 (ViVaNSE, 2011) Retrieved from Technology Toolbox (April,2013)