Comparing and Contrasting Collaborative Tools for Online Classroom

The first site I visited was coursesites.com.  If was easy to use but painstakingly slow which doesn't help when trying to generate anything meaningful.  The layout is very similar to Black Board and I'm certain that it does in fact run using Black Board.  I didn't know that Black Board was a larger entity outside of Fontbonne.  I was struck by how Coursesites has great individual web tools that can help you monitor student progress with to do items, calendars, and sections that say need attention.  When I created my first course, I was delighted to see the many ready made templates that I could choose from.  This allows the teacher to better plan lessons on an individual need.  It can also lead to greater forms of differentiation.  The finished page looked very similar to the format Fontbonne uses for their classes.  I was amazed at the customization this site offers for teachers.  You can upload almost any form of multimedia including video and audio.  There is room for group discussions and feedback as well.  I could spend hours exploring how to perfect an online class, and still not know everything there is to know about this site.  If I ever get serious about creating an online presence, this site would seem to be a wise choice.  However, I can't imagine a younger student would be able to navigate the technicality of this site.  Coursesites would seem ideal for college level students who need to have a more in depth opportunity to learn a concept.  This site seems more about tackling education full on as an online classroom, while the other sites we were assigned to explore seem more supplemental. 

Upon first signing up to Edmodo, I was struck at how similar the layout is to Facebook.  It seems more user friendly for beginners than coursesites.com.  It also looks like it wishes to promote social interaction through bookmarking, commenting, and sharing.  This site seems more of a collaborative tool than an instructional one.  I immediately began posting a few links to my library and attempted to synch with Google Docs which never seemed to happen.  This could be because of the ungodly slowness my computer recently has incurred, or an error with the website.  I did link this site to my Delicious account and to my online chat room.  Next I started checking out the apps which could have a great advantage for learning.  I didn't purchase any, but if I were going to take this site seriously, I would load up on a few apps.  I tried to get some free ones but it wouldn't let me download any.  I assume I need some credit in my bank for this to happen, even though they said it was free.  I fiddled around with groups and found that this could be a great tool to collaborate with students or other teachers.  Overall, this site is a lot more user friendly than coursesites and focuses on collaboration and sharing.  I can see it being useful for a teacher homepage or as a resource to use to post assignments, links, or supplemental materials.  You can even post quizzes, assignments, and polls.  It seems perfect for a less in depth online classroom.  Ideal for younger audiences such as middle schools or elementary schools. 

Collaborizeclassroom.com looks like a blend between the previous two sites I discussed above.  And like the other two sites, my computer seems to be painstakingly slow.  However, upon investigating this site, I found that it was really easy to post discussions and assignments.  They let you add video and images to customize the assignment.  This could lead to using video to instruct students on what they need to do to complete the online assignment.  I also liked that they allow for a due date with each assignment you post.  They make it easy to add or drop classes or groups that allows for a greater individualization for students.  Instead of having just one class to go to, students could choose their period.  This would allow a teacher to keep up to date with specific classes that may have greater needs or wants.  There's even a place for group work that could be used to help teams discuss project ideas.  This site seems like a perfect match between the previous two and is the one I would choose if I wanted to have an online presence with my students.  However, the site doesn't seem to allow a teacher to post webquests or webunits.  There only seems to be an option to post comments or share ideas.  This might have a serious disadvantage if a teacher wants students to be actively engaging in online learning because it doesn't allow students to explore links or interact with forms of multimedia.  In all, it seems a bit more one dimensional than the other two sites, but it serves a good purpose of communicating with students in an online environment.