Great+inquiry+tools

Developing here is a list and help notes for some of my favourite inquiry tools. Please feel free to add more that you find useful.

Etherpad
This is a wonderful tool for brainstorming and developing ideas as now everyone can contribute. It is like a pad page on the internet that you can share the url and everyone can then contribute at the same time. I find that Mozilla have a good etherpad site and you can access it at https://etherpad.mozilla.org/ However when I am creating a new pad I want to have control over the url so that it is meaningful and easy to share, so I go to https://etherpad.mozilla.org/nameofmypad and press enter. Note that where I have typed "nameofmypad" you will type whatever you want to call your pad. When you press enter you get a message asking if you want to create that pad and you click the button. Note that if you do not get this message and go straight to a pad, that name has already been used and you need to try again.

Once you have created your pad, it is a good idea to create starting points for people so that they don't type over each other. I use numbers or their names if I know them. I then give people the url and they can go directly in (no login required), add their name in the space provided on the right and begin typing their ideas in their allocated space. You can structure the page with questions if you want or just allow everyone to write. Later you can harvest the ideas and remove repetitions.

You will see that there is also a chat area on the bottom right. With students, it is wise to have them construct protocols for the "ways that we work in this space". It is public and therefore like being out on a school trip. The chat can then be used to share directions without interferring with the ideas page.