Etherpad

I found a very cool and simple Web 2.0 application with great potential for the classroom. It is called Etherpad. It allows you to have a chat based synchronous online discussion in real time simply by sharing a link. Students can each chat on a teacher prompt or work together on a group project which computer having a different name and color scheme. The text comes into the website in real time and since the screen constantly refreshes itself you see the others typing. The pad can then be saved in many formats including as a webpage, PDF, or Word document. The discussion is also archived as a webpage with a time slider so you can see how the chats were generated. The page can even be embedded in a website using the following instructions: Embed Etherpad into a Blogpost or on any website as an iframe. A few weeks ago, I posted a link to an Etherpad on my Twitter profile and asked for contributors. I got 2 other chatters. You can see the result below:



Applications for Education

• You can use Etherpad to host a real time class discussion instead of using other tools like Twitter or discussion forums on Wikis and Blogs. Simply post a prompt on a new Etherpad page, give each student a laptop, and share the link. Here is a blog posting on a class Etherpad discussion: Using Technology to find Students. 
• You can also use Etherpad to make sure that all students partnering on a group project  do equal work. You require the students to "show their work" on the project the same way students have to show their scrap paper on a math assignment. Then give each group an Etherpad page and require them to chat, work on their term paper, and share any other discussions on the pad with each student using their own name. I plan on trying this myself on my next assignment.  

Please note: All Etherpads are public, meaning anyone in the world with the direct link can edit them and anyone can view them. I don't think the editing is a serious issue since it is hard to find these links but it requires watching by the teacher. Since it is a public webpage, teachers should advise students to only use first names or pseudonyms and to only type work related activity. No personal information should ever be posted. When embedding a pad in a wiki or blog, one should only embed the latest version of the pad (after you have watched the entire session) as a read-only version. You do this by going to your pad and clicking "Time Slider" and then "Link to read-only page". This way, the embedded link will not allow any additional typing. (Even though the original pad can still be edited using the direct link to the pad.)

Try it yourself and share with me your results.