Scriblink and Etherpad

I've played with Scriblink and Etherpad and liked both of them. Etherpad reminds me a lot of Google Docs, but there are several features that I like better. First of all, Etherpad automatically assigns a color to each author, which would eliminate a step required to do this in Google Docs. Also, I LOVE the option to watch the changes in real time. This would be such a great tool to determine exactly how much each student contributes to a group assignment. It seems more user-friendly than Google Docs as well. The options to save directly to a Word a document are very easy to find, for example. I'm not sure if Google Docs has an unlimited undo button, but I really like this option in Etherpad. I feel this is necessary when junior high students collaborate. I may use this next year for the Our Town project (rather than using Google Docs). Scriblink is a lot of fun, and I imagine math teachers love this tool. I like Etherpad better for language arts, but I still see opportunities to use this for reading and writing. For example, it would be a fun way for students to create a web as a pre-writing activity or a Venn-diagram to compare concepts. Again, I like how easy it is to use. I think students would like the fast email option and toolbar. I truly don't see many limitations with either Etherpad or Scriblink; however, I have found that it is often difficult to assign group projects/assignments. Making sure that one student does not dominate the group or not work at all is always a challenge. Even with this great technology, making sure that each student contributes equally is not easy. One idea that I definitely love, though, is using it to sign up for projects, presentations, etc. I will probably use this next year as a tool for students to sign up for a book talk date.