Telecollaboration
What? Telecollaboration or interpersonal exchanges are activities which allow students to communicate electronically with other students or classes.

Why? This type of activity allows students to practice written communication skills, collect and analyze information and solve problems. The students benefit from expanding their global awareness; sharing, comparing and contrasting of their ideas and information with various parts of the world; and opportunities for communication and interaction through real experiences.

How? Dr. Judi Harris has identified 3 main categories of telecollaborative projects:
1. Interpersonal Exchanges - e-mail exchanges for general communication
2. Information Collection and Analysis - e-mail exchange for specific information
3. Problem Solving Through Collaboration

Interpersonal Exchange Projects ~ Connecting With Others:
ePals- ePals provides members with the collaborative tools, ideas and community needed to communicate worldwide. Check out the ePal project page!
Keypals - Request Keypals for a collaborative project or correspond with someone from a far away land.
Gaggle  - Safe e-mail for students. Ask your school computer rep for more information
On-Line Projects:
Classroom Pet Exchange- K - 3 Classes will exchange class pets (a stuffed animal) and communicate weekly with their partner class via e-mail
Flat Stanley Project - In the book, Flat Stanley, by Jeff Brown, Stanley is squashed flat by a falling bulletin board. One of the many advantages is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by traveling in an envelope. This premise provides a reason for us to keep in touch with each other. The Flat Stanley Project is a group of teachers who want to provide students with another reason to write. Students' written work goes to other places by conventional mail and e-mail.
Travel Buddies - Exchange a class stuffed toy with another class to travel the world in a cultural exchange
NASA - Calendar of events for live interactions with NASA experts each month and links to collaborative activities and resources

Information Collection and Analysis Projects
Global Grocery List - Students share local grocery prices to build a growing table of data to be used in social studies, science, health, mathematics, and other disciplines.
Global Sun Temperature Project - Join schools from around the world as they try to figure out how their geographic location affects their average daily temperature and hours of sunlight.
Tooth Tally Project - As first graders participate in the Tooth Tally Project, they practice their counting skills, collect data, learn to make and interpret graphs, develop map skills, and communicate through email.
Generations CanConnect - Linking seniors and youth to learn about our past, Grades 5 - 12
Field Trips! - Transform your next field trip into a dynamic, collaborative learning experience by hosting and publishing a Field Trip to share your experiences with other classes or by joining a Field Trip to participate in an ongoing discussion about another classroom's Field Trip online.

Problem Solving Through Collaboration
Monster Exchange - An e-mail collaborative involving art and writing. Check out the featured monster on this site from Hawrylak School in Regina!
GeoGame - Learn geography terms, how to read and interpret maps and increase awareness of geographical and cultural diversity. Include your own community in a game, by having students research information about your community, such as latitude, longitude, typical weather, land formations, time zone, population, points of interest, and for whom/what famous, and then entering that information.
International Boiling Point Project - Participants world wide experiment and discover which factor has the greatest influence on boiling point.
Journey North - A global study of animal migration
Explor-a-Pond - Pond ecology web site

Project Resource Lists
Online Projects Resource Page - A good resource to begin with
Collaborative On-Line Projects - Various subject areas from the Education Place at Houghton Mifflin. These projects are no longer supported but provide a resource of ideas.
Online Class - Collaborative projects you can join at any time

More Information
Interpersonal Exchanges - This link features the work of Judi Harris who outlines curriculum-based projects designed using Interpersonal Exchange activity structures