Saywire is a safe, social learning community that provides access to a single network where teachers, staff, and students can reside and work together. There is no public access. Saywire provides teachers with a platform in which they can safely communicate and collaborate in their traditional and virtual classrooms.

Pros: This product is a solution to the problem many districts face regarding the safety of social networking in a school setting. Using Saywire, students and teachers are able to communicate with each other. Teachers can set up pages for classes, offer homework help, organize threaded discussions, give assignments, and check homework.

Cons: Our school has had to take away the students’ ability to build pages at our junior high school, because it was being abused. [Editor’s note: Saywire does include tools that allow administrators to set a plethora of permission-based controls, based on how that school or district wishes to operate.]
 
Overall evaluation: I like this product, but I especially like the idea of the product. It was tough to get people on board at our school; but with correct implementation, it can be a powerful tool.

-- Stephanie Tolman