Scott Lewisberry, a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, used technology in an innovative way to foster the feeling of affiliation in his English classroom. Instead of having students passively watch a video related the their reading of The Crucible, Scott had his students participate in a moderated chat room while watching. He used CoverItLive, a free text chat that teachers can easily set up and embed on their own website as a widget. Scott writes in his blog, "What was cool was the kids could pose questions they had about what they were watching, and they could answer each other's questions as well. We had quite a discussion in the room." CoverItLive has additional features like file uploads and polling options.

Besides affiliation within the walls of the classroom, teachers are using technology to provide students affiliation with other students and adults in other classrooms, schools, and countries. The free communication software Skype is a great way to reach out to others from around the globe. Skype allows text, audio, and video chatting and runs on Macintosh and Windows. Skype's most popular feature is the ability to make free "telephone" calls to any other computer in the world running Skype software. This means no phone bill or long distance charges to talk to your city's mayor or a student in Japan. Teachers around the world are using Skype to connect their students with other students and adults:

• Neil Stephenson's middle school students in Calgary, Alberta used Skype to talk with a curator at the National Museum. The curator gave students feedback and asked questions about their humanities projects.
• Australian teacher Anne Mirtschin's students connect via video with Korean and Russian students.
• Brian Crosby's fifth graders in Nevada use Skype to bring a classmate with leukemia back into their classroom.
• Fridley High School students in Minnesota Skype with students in Spain. They spoke in English and Spanish about sports, movies, politics, university plans, and more.

Teachers might want to read The Guide for Using Skype in the Classroom and A Skype from the Classroom Wiki. Those looking for partners to collaborate with, check out ePals.

CoverItLive and Skype are just two of an expanding list of free tools. Technology is growing by leaps and bounds in the area of communication and collaboration, bringing new and useful software and services into classrooms. Students can work with others in the classroom at the same time (known as synchronous communication) or delayed (asynchronous communication) or with others from around the globe either synchronously or asynchronously. No matter when or where, being affiliated with others is bound to engage students in learning.

Below are some tools that can help facilitate affiliation:

• Google Docs - Multiple people can collaborate on word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation slideshow documents. An email address is required for login. Read Getting Started with Google Docs.
• Etherpad - Multiple people can work on the same text document simultaneously. The really nice part is that no account is required, so students don't need to worry about usernames and passwords. The word processor is real-time, meaning that you can watch on one computer as typing occurs from another. Other features include a chat room and colors to indicate who typed what.
• Scriblink- Similar to Etherpad, Scriblink is a website for people to work on the same virtual whiteboard simultaneously. Users can upload images on which to draw, create graphic organizers, brainstorm ideas, work through math problems, etc. Like Etherpad, there's no registration needed so students can get right to work.
• Wikis - A wiki is a website designed for multiple users to add or edit content. That makes a wiki a great way for students to work cooperatively to make a website. There are several free websites where you can create a wiki.
• Doodle - It's often a chore to figure out when a group of people are available to work together. Doodle is a free service that polls participants when they are available for a meeting or event. This is helpful when students are expected to work synchronously outside of class and for trying to coordinate real-time collaboration with other classrooms or adults.

How do you add a feeling of affiliation in your classroom? Please leave a comment!