Great Online Collaboration Resources

Lauren Malden discusses three online collaboration resources for educators: Trello, Seesaw, and Google Docs. Trello helps manage projects and tasks, Seesaw facilitates communication between teachers and parents, and Google Docs allows for real-time collaboration on documents. These resources can improve teamwork and accountability among educators. Lauren also mentions a science podcast for students that she wants to try in her pre-K classroom. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lauren Malden, and thank you so much for tuning in today. We are going to be discussing three online collaboration resources educators can use to make life a little easier. As teachers, we all have to work in teams, so through the use of these online resources, collaboration will be a little less of a hassle and more of a peaceful experience. The first resource I want to talk about today is Trello. Trello makes it easier for teams to manage projects and tasks. It is simple and flexible. All it takes are boards, lists, and cards to get a clear view of who's doing what and what needs to get done. You can add members to the board, which keeps everyone accountable and never have to wonder who is doing what because you can add members to cards for their projects and tasks. Due dates are easy to set and hard to miss because of multiple reminders. We all know too many tasks can be challenging to complete and a little overwhelming. With Trello, there is a task management where you can track, manage, complete, and bring tasks together like pieces of a puzzle. This could be helpful to a team's cohesive success. The next resource is Seesaw. Seesaw offers many tools, resources, and interactive activities that can help educators see a student learning journey. Seesaw keeps everyone up to date, including teachers, administrators, students, and families for the purpose of supporting their student's academic progress. This online resource allows collaboration between parents and teachers as to how their student is progressing. Family members can view student work on any device, lessons are easily shareable to families, and there is a two-way communication through Seesaw. The last and final online resource I want to talk about today is Google Docs. With Google Docs, it lets educators share documents for a more productive team. Multiple users can simultaneously work on a document, seeing each other's changes that are happening. This way, feedback offers better communications for co-workers and co-teachers. Team members can leave comments or suggestions throughout the document, which is another way feedback is given within Google Docs. Only this way does not change the original document. Educators can chat while working on a document. This can be discussing quick ideas, clarifying any doubts that may occur, and coordinating without having to switch between many communication tools. There is an integrated task assignment feature within Google Docs that divides tasks easily, ensuring everyone knows their responsibility. I have seen teams in placement that the work falls on a single teacher, receiving little help from her teammates. If her and her team were to implement one of these three online collaboration resources, all team members will be held accountable for specific tasks they will need to complete. This way, this teacher does not feel the weight on her shoulders, but it is evenly distributed among the team. This week, I listened to Brains on Science podcast for students. That would be such a fun way to incorporate an excitement and an interest for science in the classroom. I could totally see my pre-K kids getting a kick out of it, and I really want to try this in my