Main Theme: This document provides a curated list and brief review of various online collaborative software tools that can be utilized for learning purposes. It focuses on their ease of use, cost (specifically highlighting free options), popularity among educators, and includes some specific comments regarding their strengths and weaknesses.

Key Ideas and Facts:

The document categorizes and describes 12 specific online collaborative software tools, providing the following information for each:

• Name and Star Rating: A subjective rating from 1 to 5 stars, likely indicating overall suitability or feature richness, with a higher number generally suggesting better quality or more features aligned with educational needs.
• Link: A direct hyperlink to the software's website.
• Ease of Use: A qualitative assessment of how user-friendly the platform is, often referencing teacher familiarity.
• Free Tier Information: Details about the free version, including limitations such as the number of boards/walls, storage capacity, or available features.
• Cost per User (Paid Plans): Pricing information for individual or educational/enterprise plans, where available. Note that many "Total Cost" entries state "Ask them," indicating variable pricing based on the number of users or specific needs.
• Popularity: An indication of how widely the tool is used, often mentioning schools and teachers.
• Comments: Brief qualitative feedback, highlighting potential benefits, drawbacks, or specific use cases.

Summary of Reviewed Tools:

Here's a summary of the key aspects of each tool mentioned:

1. Padlet (🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Very easy, teachers are already using."
• Free: 3 Walls, archiving and restoring available.
• Popularity: High.
• Comment: Popular among educators, but the free version has a limited number of walls.

1. Miro (🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Fairly easy to use," good for whiteboards and mind maps.
• Free: Free for educators, 3 editable boards.
• Popularity: High.
• Comment: Potential drawback: large zoom capability might make it hard for students to refocus.

1. Mural (🌟):

• Ease of Use: Similar to Miro, intuitive with many templates.
• Free: Free for classrooms up to 100 people, discounts for school-wide plans.
• Popularity: High.
• Comment: Shares the same zooming drawback as Miro. No explicitly stated fully free tier beyond classroom size limit.

1. Google Jamboard (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Very easy to use," uses bite-sized frames.
• Free: Yes.
• Popularity: Used by some teachers.
• Comment: Hardware cost of )4,999.00 for serious collaboration.

1. Lino.it (🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Can be slightly difficult to format some lessons" due to sticky note style.
• Free: Yes, with storage and download limitations.
• Popularity: High.
• Comment: Best for short messages and photos.

1. Whiteboard.chat (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Easy to use, with many features geared towards teaching," comprehensive documentation.
• Free: Yes, all features, unlimited boards.
• Popularity: High.
• Comment: Free with strong feature set, but tries to save credit card info.

1. Canva (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Easy to use," good lesson templates and dynamic presentation style.
• Free: Free for educators (verification required), 5GB storage.
• Popularity: High, popular among students.
• Comment: Requires image upload for educator verification.

1. Popplet (Mind Map tool) (🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Easy to use for building mind maps."
• Free: 1 Popplet for free.
• Popularity: Not explicitly stated.
• Comment: Primarily a mind mapping tool.

1. Google Slides (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "Very convenient for collating information from various Google apps."
• Free: Yes.
• Popularity: High.
• Comment: Easy to use, familiar to students as part of the Google ecosystem.

1. BrainStormer (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟):

• Ease of Use: "This is a specialized tool that makes brainstorming in class very easy to conduct," includes voting.
• Free: Yes.
• Popularity: Difficult to tell.
• Comment: Specifically designed for brainstorming.

1. Class Kick (🌟🌟🌟 (more a lesson assignment system)):

• Ease of Use: Easy for setting and monitoring assignments.
• Free: Limited to 20 questions per teacher.
• Popularity: Not explicitly stated.
• Comment: More focused on lesson assignment and grading than general collaboration.

1. Coggle (🌟🌟🌟 (Concept map and Mind map tool)):

• Ease of Use: "Very easy to create mind maps for collaborative work."
• Free: 3 private diagrams, unlimited public diagrams.
• Popularity: Not explicitly stated.
• Comment: Primarily a concept and mind mapping tool.

Additional Information:

• The document includes a long list of other resources and applets available on the platform, covering a wide range of subjects and interactive learning activities. These range from games for basic skills (addition, subtraction, money counting) to science simulations (physics, chemistry, biology) and tools for creating interactive content.
• There are mentions of specific events, conferences, and projects related to the development and use of these educational resources.
• Popular tags listed at the end provide insights into the main subject areas and types of resources available (e.g., Energy Work Power, Newtonian Mechanics, Chemistry, Simulations).
• The platform operates under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Singapore License for content, with a separate commercial license for the EasyJavaScriptSimulations Library.

Quotes:

• Padlet: "Very easy, teachers are already using..."
• Miro: "A drawback is that the available space on each board can be zoomed out as much as one wants to, so it may be more difficult for students to focus back on a small part afterwards."
• Google Jamboard: "...content is typed/drawn/etc. in small bite-sized frames."
• Whiteboard.chat: "Easy to use, with many features geared towards teaching. There is also a very comprehensive documentation for instructions on how to use the features available."
• Canva: "...good support for lesson templates for a large variety of subjects like English, Math and Science. There is also a more dynamic presentation style for more engaging presentations."
• Google Slides: "Very convenient for collating information from various Google apps... easy to use, part of what students already know and have."
• BrainStormer: "This is a specialized tool that makes brainstorming in class very easy to conduct, with a voting system at the end of the session streamlining the brainstorming process."
• Class Kick: "...more a lesson assignment system..."
• Coggle: "...Very easy to create mind maps for collaborative work (i.e.: project work, revision, etc.)"

Conclusion:

This archive provides a valuable overview of various online collaborative tools with a focus on their suitability for educational settings. It highlights the availability of free options with varying limitations and points out specific strengths and weaknesses of each platform. The extensive list of other resources indicates a rich collection of interactive learning materials available on the "Open Educational Resources / Open Source Physics @ Singapore" platform. Educators can use this information to identify tools that best fit their specific pedagogical needs and budget constraints.