Communities

Below are a few of the online groups that you could consider joining:

• WebHeads (http://www.webheads.info/): A group of English language teachers who are interested in using technology in their classes. A mailing list is available athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/. Free to join.
  
• Classroom 2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com/): An online community that looks at using new technologies in the classroom. Not focused on English teaching.
  
• IATEFL Learning Technologies Special Interest Group (LTSIG) (http://ltsig.org.uk/): A special interest group which is part of the wider International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL - http://www.iatefl.org/). Membership (which is not free) includes access to peer-reviewed journals, newsletters and a mailing list.
  
• The British Council's TeachingEnglish - Talk (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk) section also has lots of discussions, blogs, forum posts and polls on the use of technology in the classroom.

Being part of a group enables you to ask questions, see what others are doing and find out about new tools and teaching ideas. There are a number of ways a group can form online - through mailing lists using email to using social networking sites such as Facebook. As with any community, it is the people who are in it which make or break it. Some communities only have a handful of people but are active and ideas are shared freely. other communities have many members but they are stagnant.