Collaborative+Writing+Tools

=Collaborative Writing Tools=

=Google Docs=

Google Docs lets you create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. These tools look a lot like the Office tools you are familiar with, but with fewer features. You can also upload docs you have already created in Word,. Excel, Power Point or similar programs.

As the creator, you can **share** your work with others whom you invite via email. You can also **allow others to edit** the document, spreadsheet, or presentation. You and your collaborators can track all the changes, including who made them and when. Google offers detailed instructions in the [|Google Docs Help Center]. There are also many screencasts available on You Tube and other video repositories. Here's one:

=Wikis= Wikis are easily edited web pages. When you create a wiki, you can control who can see it and who can add and edit information. Wikis are great tools for projects that can be divided into "chunks" structured as different pages. Wikis are useful when different people or groups are responsible for different parts. This is a wiki that we created so each presenter could build his or her own pages. It's also easy for participants to look at many resources and to go back and review this info later.

[|Wikipedia] is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It has over 2 million articles in English. It is especially useful for articles on technology tools and other innovations. This link will take you to the article that explains wikis. Wikispaces offers free wikis to educators for educational purposes.

=Blogs= A **blog** (short for **web log**) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, that is updated with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or material such as images or video. Entries are displayed in reverse chronological order, so the most recent entry appears first. Readers have the opportunity to respond by posting their comments to the blog.

[|Instructify] is a group blog from the the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education that highlights free and useful technology tools for teachers.Scott McLeod has gathered several examples of educational blogs at his wiki Moving Forward. McLeod also periodically [|lists the "top 50" edublogs], most recently in June 2008. [|Alltop] also catalogs blogs related to education. Examples of blogs related to **Special Education** include [|Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs], [|Succesful Teaching], [|SpEd Change], [|Special Education Strategies and More], and [|Ed Tech Solutions: Teaching Every Student].
 * Blog Examples**

Examples related to Child Development include [|Raise Your Child.org], [|Child Development Media], [|Baby 411], [|Leading Source] is the American School Board Journal's daily blog. Administrators blog, too: [|Leader Talk], [|The Principal and Interest], [|FarBucks], [|Principal Blogging Project] Even Supt.s: see [|Kershaw County School District]

**To Create a Blog:**
[|Edublogs] offers free blogs without ads to educators creating a blog for educational purposes. [|Blogger] is a good tool, but is filtered by many of our districts.