Reposted from Colorado Virtual Library
By Christine Schein, Digital Literacy Instructional Specialist at Colorado Department of Education
“Collaboration is essential in our classrooms because it is inherent in the nature of how work is accomplished in our civic and workforce lives. Fifty years ago, much work was accomplished by individuals working alone, but not today. Much of all significant work is accomplished in teams, and in many cases, global teams.” The National Education Association, An Educator’s Guide to the “Four C’s “
Here are some educational technology tools to use with students allowing them to collaborate and think about the power of collaboration.
Book Creator – “Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins.” Have students collaborate in creating a digital book – for the class, with a partner, or with a group.
Breakout EDU – Breakout EDU is an immersive learning game platform that brings the challenges of an escape room to the classroom promoting critical thinking and collaboration skills.
Breakout EDU Free Games – Learn how to sign up to access free games
Breakout EDU Digital SandBox – online breakout games developed by fellow educators for free!
FlipGrid – Every student has a voice, so let’s amplify! Students record
short, authentic videos and can reply to each other’s videos. Educators are 100% in control with video moderation, access controls, and much more. “Flipgrid is jam-packed with features you’ll love like video downloads, stickers & drawings, custom assessment rubrics, video feedback, MixTapes,
Topic invites, private share links, Vibes, and more! The entire #FlipgridFever community is here to support you!” – FlipGrid
GridPals – Take your classroom global and connect with another educator to set up a #GridPals collaboration. Check out this amazing GridPals guide created by the first ever GridPal, Bonnie McClelland!
Google Apps for Education – “The Google Drive apps enable students and teachers to collaborate more effectively on papers, spreadsheets, and presentations. The beauty of the Google Suite for Education is: several people can contribute simultaneously, so it’s truly designed for collaboration.”
Kahoot – makes it easy to create, share and play fun learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. 
“Boost collaboration through encouraging students to be the leaders and “quiz-makers”: to research, create, and present their own quizzes to the class.” (GoGuardian)
NowComment – Online comment application – Teachers can control when comments can be made on a document and when students can see each others’ comments, thus creating a period of time when students can share opinions without seeing what others say. Teachers can also have students upload their own documents for group projects or peer-reviewed activities.
Skype – Skype in the Classroom is a free community that offers live transformative educational experiences for students including Virtual Field Trips, talks from Guest Speakers, classroom to classroom connections, and live collaboration projects.
Padlet – Padlet is a “virtual wall” which promotes collaboration, communication, creativity and more because of its versatility. Students can write a response to a discussion question, 
add resources for a collaborative class project, work in small groups, use it for brainstorming or connect with other students and classrooms.
Teachers can create special brainstorm sessions where they invite students to discuss some topics, all with excellent opportunities provided by Padlet, such as sharing Internet findings, ideas, and visual aids.
Visit CommonSense Media at Find an EdTech Tool for more ideas and reviews of tech tools for your classroom. EdShelf will also provide ideas, reviews, and recommendations for education tech tools.