EN_Tools_Orga_petrol

Tools

Below, you will find a selection of tools and applications that we have encountered in numerous eTwinning projects and that teachers have found helpful.

to support planning and managing the project

organizing the work

collecting ideas

• Padlet

• Lino

• AnswerGarden

• Trello

• LearningDesigner

• RubiStar

• timetoast

collaborative writing

• ZUMpad

• Framapad

• Yopad

• Google docs

gathering information

• Poll Everywhere

• Easypolls

• survio

• Testmoz

• GoConqr

• coggle

making decisions

• Dotstorming

• Tricider

• framadate

organizing ideas

• mind42

In the context of project planning, it is sometimes important to gather information from the participants and record it systematically. To do this, various applications make it easy to create forms. Here are a few examples of the use of surveys in project planning:

• for planning a school exchange/mobility(e.g. to query contact data, travel times, dietary requirements, allergies...)
• for the systematic recording of certain influencing variables on the project(in large projects, e.g. the available time quota or the IT resources of the participants in order to organize the activities on this basis)
• for the collection of prior knowledge or attitudes(e.g. if a before/after comparison is desired)

In addition, such forms can also be the subject of a project themselves, if, for example, students in the project are asked to develop them for comparative surveys. And of course, they can also be used for evaluation purposes at the end of the project.

As infinite as the possibilities for designing projects are, so different the expectations of a project can be. Therefore, it is advisable to start with careful planning and to openly exchange expectations and ideas with project partners.The method of brainstorming, for example, is very helpful for this purpose. It can also be supported online with various tools that serve for visualization:In this regard, the tools padlet and lino are particularly popular and can be used intuitively. Similar to digital pinboards, they enable the publication of contributions in like sticky notes, which can not only be be complemented with media content such as pictures, videos, links and files - but also allow for some interaction.The tool AnswerGarden works like word clouds, e.g. it displays ideas (=answers) to a specific question more or less prominently according to their frequency.

A good structure helps to define priorities and facilitates the division of tasks - something to easily moderate with the Trello tool, for example. This tool allows to create to do lists and share them with colleagues in order to be always up to date.To avoid losing sight of project stages, it makes sense to visibly present agreements, topics and activities to the entire project group in the form of a common project plan. If you don't want to stick only to text and tables, but also visualize a plan as an interactive timeline, for example, you can use timetoast to display the milestones of the project progress and then publish them in the TwinSpace. For those who want to display the learning goals transparently when creating the tasks and record them as rubrics, the RubiStar site is certainly of interest; also worth mentioning: these rubrics are also very useful for one's own learning control.

Whether when planning project activities, working together in project groups or at the end for reporting reasons, working on common documents can be helpful and sometimes also necessary.For this purpose, free open source pads (such as those offered by ZUMpad, framapad or Yopad) offer simple text editors that can be easily set up and accessed via a link. Their use is very intuitive since the functionality of the pads is limited to a minimum: Pad texts can only be formatted using headings and enumerations; distinction between different authors is made using different text colors.More extensive design and usage options are offered by Google docs, an application package that is based on the most common word processing programs and thus provides presentations, spreadsheets and text documents for collaborative work. A great advantage of Google docs is not only the numerous format and design options, but also the possibility to configure various publishing and editing options.

Where there are many partners and ideas coming together, there is naturally a need for coordination.To avoid excessive mail traffic for coordinating different options and to keep information clear and bundled for everyone, the following tools offer good solutions:

• Tricider: An easy-to-use tool to make voting and decision-making processes in the group comprehensible with pro and contra arguments.
• Dotstorming: A simple and vivid voting tool that enables a selection to be made by awarding points.
• Framadate: An open source alternative to the well-known Doodle poll (now available for a fee), which can be used without registration and which helps to arrange appointments or make decisions.

To avoid getting confused with many ideas for themes or project activities, mindmaps can be used to help bring order into creative chaos. Tools like mind42, coggle or GoConqr help to structure ideas and visualize connections.By the way: creating mind maps can also be a good way for pupils to associatively explore a topic and present it more vividly.