Find and use collaborative learning tools on the Internet

By Caroline Cerveny, SSJ, DMin

When you think about all the new communication tools available through the Internet, do you feel excited or overwhelmed? Do you wonder how these tools can help you engage your students in faith formation, or do you simply wonder how to keep up with them in the fast-evolving World Wide Web? Here are a few simple suggestions to help you get comfortable with these new tools for ministry:

1. Don’t be afraid! These tools are fun and easy to use.
2. Put on your pioneer hat, sit down at your computer, and get ready to enjoy and explore, explore, and explore some more. Invite a student or a younger teacher to show you around the tools you are exploring.
3. Is time a problem? Sit down for five or ten minutes per day and try something different with the tool you are using. Over a two-week period, you will have spent a minimum of 70 minutes on learning a new tool—more than enough time to get the basics of these new technologies and to learn a new skill.
4. Often a Google search using the tool name + education (e.g., voicethread education) will lead you to blogs and Web sites of educators who are pioneers like yourself. Glance through their comments. Whet your appetite and create a project you would like to try.
5. Be sure to check to see if the tool you plan to use meets the guidelines set by your school or parish acceptable use policy (AUP). For example, VoiceThread (voicethread.com) allows you to make your files public or private. Some AUP’s allow moderated comments from outside viewers; others do not.
6. Launch a project with your learners. Remember to highlight the basic steps of using the tool and give them directions for the project. Make the project fun and interesting as well as faithful.
7. Once projects are completed, share them in some way with all your learners. Show them in class so they can get immediate feedback. You may want to send a brief e-mail with the project link to your learners.
8. More importantly, share the link with your pastor, principal, parents, other teachers or catechists, and your diocesan staff members. Share the good news of what is happening with your digital catechetical projects.

An online activity using VoiceThread
VoiceThread (voicethread.com) provides an online space for teachers and their learners to upload pictures. You can record your thoughts by typing in a comment or by speaking via a microphone. (To see examples, go to voicethread4education.wikispaces.com.) VoiceThread is free, unless you decide to subscribe to the Pro version. Sign up for a free account and involve your learners in an online, collaborate activity.

Live the Commandments (Grade 2)
Purpose: To help learners understand one of the Ten Commandments by using VoiceThread.

Investigation: Prepare individual cards with one of the commandments plus a reflection question—How does the photo represent this commandment?

After everyone has picked a card, ask them to locate a photo that represents the commandment. Their parents can help them do this, or you can help them do it in the classroom using a computer with Internet access.

Direct the group to the VoiceThread page you have set up where they will upload the photo and add their comment. Ask them to use only their first names with the initial of their last name. You may want to add a photo and a comment to the Web site as an example.

Presentation: During class, invite your learners to give an oral presentation about the photo they chose and how it represents the commandment.

Share the link to the site with parents and others who may be interested. Then, this activity not only becomes a great way to share learning orally, but it also provides a platform for giving and receiving feedback as peers, parents, and teachers respond to the project. This becomes a collaborative project!

Collaborative tools for Digital Catechesis

Skrbl [skrbl.com]
The scribble tool generates a virtual whiteboard. Once you share the link, others can contribute to the whiteboard using text or drawing tools.

Delicious [delicious.com]
Invite your learners to join your class bookmarking Web site where, together, you can store Web site bookmarks (favorites) for group research projects. Together you can research topics and have them located in one place to benefit the group. Occasionally review what your learners are adding to their Delicious account.

Slideshare [slideshare.net]
Invite your class (in teams) to create a PowerPoint presentation. As a class, pick the best presentations and then post them on Slideshare. Presentations are accessible from any computer, and registered users are able to post comments. Here you can share what your learners are working on with the parents of your class. Invite parents to comment on the presentations.

For even more tools, go to delicious.com/ccerveny/Web_2.0 to see my Delicious bookmarks.

Caroline Cerveny, SSJ, DMin

Caroline Cerveny, SSJ, DMin, is the president of Interactive Connections. She specializes in online catechist and ministry formation and the applications of new media to adult and youth evangelization and formation. Contact her through her Web site, intconnect.org.