Kibits

Kibits is a collaborative app that allows you to create private, secure collaboration rooms and share almost any type of media—files, photos, videos, links, locations, notes, and more—in real-time. Each Kibits Collaboration room includes integrated chat and task management, so you and your team can keep everything you need in one automatically-organized place. The app works seamlessly with many "cloud services" (including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, iCloud, and your email inbox).

Kibits seems to be very user friendly - although, when used on the iPad, must be doubled in size as it is only an iPhone app right now (no big deal!). The navigation menu within the app is very simple, which would make it easy for any learner to navigate. Kibits is mainly used for collaboration and communication, although critical thinking can come into play throughout the collaborative experiences. Kibits seems to be pretty simple to set up and could be differentiated through the different settings available.

I can see this app being very engaging, as it encourages active participation from all group members involved.  An educator/facilitator could be a part of the collaborative room and assess learner contributions within the room.

Learners and educators would have to create an account with Kibits. The good news: Kibits is web-based as well! YAY! Your login will work on any device that can access the web OR any iDevice with the app downloaded.  You can get more information by going to the website www.kibits.com

This app would be a great tool to have when learners are collaborating on a project together.  The educator can also be a part of these collaborative groups as a facilitator during a learning experience.

I would give kibits 3.5 out of 5 stars (the App Store has a 4.5/5 rating!). My reasoning for this: GREAT TOOL (no complaints on the functionality!), but you can only create 4 rooms under one account before you are required to "upgrade" ($$).  Also, I would prefer an iPad version (not just an iPhone interface that I have to double in size).

Check out this youtube user's videos for quick how-to's on Kibits! http://www.youtube.com/user/flickto?feature=watch