Collaborative Tools

For our digital story telling assignment, our group used Prezi which I think is a great collaborative tool. So often when you are creating a presentation in a group, you have to physically be together in order for everyone to have control over it. Instead of sending a PowerPoint back and forth as an attachment, all of our group members were able to go onto the Prezi site and edit it. I think this is definitely a great tool to use for class projects. I also liked the layout of Prezi because it visually maps out big ideas and smaller concepts. It eliminates the worrying of whether or not everyone has been sent and received the final project. As for some of the other tools such as Pirate Pad and Tiny Chat, I can see the many benefits they would have for businesses. In terms of the classroom, I'm not sure how necessary they would be. Since my students see each other on a regular basis, I don't think I would need to have them collaborate through a chat room. I probably would not use these to collaborate with colleagues either for the simple fact that I am able to talk to them in person every day, e-mail, or text them. It is great knowing these tools are out there. But other than Prezi, I can't see myself implementing them any time soon. Has anyone used any collaborative tools for lessons? If you have any ideas or experiences with some, please share.