May 8, 2008
TeachersFirst Helps Teachers Build Collaborative Projects Online

One of the web’s leading sites for teachers is partnering with an innovative technology company in a pilot program to help teachers create collaborative learning projects.

TeachersFirst (www.teachersfirst.com) and TRintuition (www.trintuition.com) have created the Building Learners Project, a unique effort that will allow teachers to create safe online projects within their own classrooms—or linked with classrooms across the corridor or around the world.

The nonprofit TeachersFirst, known for its extensive collection of resources and its teacherfriendly support, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The site—by teachers, for teachers—has thousands of members in more than 50 countries, and averages more than 50,000 page views daily. TRintuition is a new “Web 2.0” company; its workBench product makes it easy even for those who are not technically proficient to create visually-rich websites that encourage creative collaboration within any group.

The Building Learners partnership will allow 100 teachers to participate this year using the full premium-level tools of the workBench at no charge (a limited-feature free version is also available). Examples of the ways teachers intend to use the product include connecting American students with Spanish-speaking counterparts around the globe, encouraging learners to see the connections between classic poetry and current events, and integrating arts and technology online. Both TeachersFirst and TRintuition will provide extensive support for participating teachers.

Members of TeachersFirst can fill out a simple form to apply for participation in the Building Learners Project (TeachersFirst membership is free).

Candace Hackett Shively is Director of K-12 Initiatives for Network for Instructional TV (NITV), parent company of TeachersFirst. She said, “Actually, the Building Learners Project will build learning for all the participants: students, teachers, the Web 2.0 tool developer, and our own teacher resource site. We will all keep learning, and that’s exactly the point. We plan to continue to offer pilot projects that will help move innovative technology beyond the early-adopters into the classroom mainstream.”