It’s no secret that I love Google tools, but Google is not the only option for your classroom. There are hundreds of fantastic collaborative learning tools!
Collaboration is a critical twenty-first-century skill for our students. Finding ways to facilitate and support collaboration in the classroom is not always easy.
Keep in mind that digital tools are not inherently collaborative, it is how you use them to facilitate collaboration in your classroom.
All of the tools below have the capability but may support collaboration in different ways.
I’ve included an overview video for each of the fifteen tools listed below.
Many of these tools also tap into other C’s like creativity, critical thinking, and communication! (Looking for other ideas to support the 4 C’s, check out the 4 C’s Learning Menu.)
Another important thing to note is that many of these tools work together, like InsertLearning and Flip, as well as offer integration with Google tools.
Did your favorites make the list? If not, leave a comment and share your top collaboration!
This post contains 20 collaborative tools for your classroom that are NOT Google.
Listen to the episodes:
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20 Collaborative Tools for Your Classroom That Are NOT Google
in no particular order…
1. Pear Deck
Pear Deck is an active learning and formative assessment tool that makes your presentations completely interactive! Pear Deck is fully loaded with templates for each stage of the assessment process, vocabulary games, Google tool integration, and helps teachers engage students and create collaborative conversations.
Pear Deck also offers ISTE Aligned, digital citizenship curriculum in partnership with Google’s, “Be Internet Awesome,” program. And Pear Deck has also introduced critical thinking slides!
Pear Deck is a freemium tool, meaning that some features are completely free, but premium features require a paid account.
Related: 27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom
2. Flip
Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion tool that allows teachers to create “grids,” of discussion topics. Students share their responses through recorded videos. Flip is a great way to encourage student voice and engage students. You can also connect and collaborate globally through their #GridPals program.
Flip is jam-packed with a ton of other features like video downloads, stickers & drawings, custom assessment rubrics, video feedback, MixTapes, Topic invites, private share links, Vibes, and more! There is also an amazing community to support you!
Flipgrid is owned by Microsoft and is completely free!
Related: Flipgrid: The Go-To Remote Learning Tool
Related: 10 Awesome Ways to Use Flipgrid in the Classroom
3. Padlet
Padlet is a digital tool that allows you to create collaborative “walls.” I like to think of it like a digital bulletin board with digital sticky notes, but way better. Students can post just about anything–images, videos, documents, and text–from anywhere, and from any device (pcs, tablets, phones).
I have used Padlet for many years and it is a great way to get students (and teachers) sharing, collaborating, and creating. Padlet is no longer a free tool, but it is still used and recommended by many teachers.
4. Nearpod
Nearpod is an interactive presentation and assessment tool. Teachers can use it to create interactive lessons that contain quizzes, polls, videos, images, drawing-boards, web content and more, as well as use their “Nearpod Collaborate!” tool.
Nearpod is free for a class size up to 30.
5. Microsoft Teams
Get Classes, Meetings, Assignments, Files And Collaboration All In One Place With Teams.
Engage students with virtual face-to-face connections and activities, or set up a remote lunch to keep classrooms connected and having fun and it’s free for students and teachers with a valid school email address.
Learn more about Microsoft Teams.
6. Seesaw
Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio tool. Teachers can empower students to create, reflect, share, and collaborate. Students “show what they know” using photos, videos, drawings, text, PDFs, and links.
Seesaw is a freemium tool, meaning that some features are completely free, but premium features require a paid account.
7. Kahoot
Kahoot! is a game-based learning and trivia platform for your classroom. Teachers can create Kahoots, or collaboratively create with students.
Kahoot is free for teachers.
8. Book Creator
Book Creator is the simple way to make ebooks using the Chrome App or iOS App. Book Creator has real-time collaboration and is ideal for making all kinds of books, portfolios, comic books, photo books, journals, textbooks and more.
Book Creator is free for up to 40 books.
Learn more about Book Creator.
9. Cospaces Edu
CoSpaces Edu is an application that allows students and teachers to easily build their own 3D creations, animate them with code and explore them in Virtual or Augmented Reality.
CoSpaces is free for up to 30 seats.
10. Buncee
Buncee allows students and teachers to create engaging multimedia projects and presentations.
Buncee is a freemium tool, meaning that some features are completely free, but premium features require a paid account.
11. OneNote
OneNote is a Microsoft Office product that is like a digital version of a physical notebook. This means you can capture digital notes and keep them organized, as well as collaborate and share. It also means you can add images, diagrams, audio, video, and more.
Access to OneNote requires an Office 365 subscription.
12. WeVideo
WeVideo is an online and collaborative video editing tool. Students can easily edit and collaborate on videos on desktops, iOS, and Android. And, it’s Chromebook compatible!
WeVideo is a freemium tool, meaning that some features are completely free, but premium features require a paid account.
13. Classcraft
Classcraft is a game-based approach to teaching and behavior management. It’s designed to encourage participation, good behavior, and 21st-century skills like collaboration.
14. InsertLearning
InsertLearning is a Chrome extension that lets you turn any website into an interactive lesson. You can highlight text, add sticky notes, insert questions, videos, or even a discussion all inside the webpage!
Learn more by reading 4 Ways to Blend Learning with InsertLearning.
This tool was also part of the 18 Challenges for Teachers in 2018 FREE ebook.
Teachers can create up to 5 lessons with a FREE account.
Learn more about InsertLearning.
15. Soundtrap Edu
Soundtrap Edu is an online music studio where students can create together by recording and using loops.
Learn more about Soundtrap Edu.
16. Lumio by Smart
Lumio is a digital learning tool that will transform your lessons into active, collaborative learning experiences. Every day more schools and districts are switching to Lumio – it’s truly a flexible, time-saving tool that makes it easy to turn your PDFs, Google Slides, PowerPoint, and Notebook files into engaging lessons with interactive activities, games, group workspaces, and formative assessment ALL built right in.
*Related: Engaging Lessons for Next-Gen Connected Creators
17. Canva for Education
Canva for Education is 100% free for K-12 (primary and secondary) teachers and their students, powering creation and collaboration in every classroom.
You and your students can create and personalize your own designs from scratch, or choose from thousands of high-quality, educational templates. From presentations to posters, and infographics, to worksheets, project-based learning, and lesson plans, the possibilities are endless.
*Related: 4+ Things You Didn’t Know Canva Could Do!
18. Bookwidgets
Transform your old worksheets into interactive quizzes and assignments rich with multimedia. With BookWidgets, all teachers from all courses can create interactive exercises and auto-graded assignments with over 30 different question types. Teachers can easily integrate BookWidgets inside their trusted learning environment (Google Classroom, Teams, Canvas, Schoology, and more). The integration allows you to follow student progress in realtime when student are working on a BookWidgets assignment. This way, you can quickly guide your students in the right direction when they need help.
*Related: Google Classroom + BookWidgets = Superpowered Digital Classroom
19. Wakelet
Save, organize and share content from across the web with Wakelet. Save articles, videos, images, Tweets and more, organize them into stunning collections.
20. Notion for Education
Your notes, research, tasks, and more — all in one place. Free for students and teachers, with discounts for teams and schools.
Did your favorite collaborative tool make the list? If not, leave a comment and share!
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