collaborative tools

In class we were assigned a collaborative tools project. In this project, we used the designated cite, google. As members of google, my partner and I are able to publish our information on our google project withouth actually being in the same room, or anywhere near eachother. This makes it easier to complete our project because we are both busy, so it would have been difficult to find times when we were both available to get together.
We decided to do our project on a lesson plan for a geograpy class. We decided that each student should be responsible for reporting on five countries in a blog. The student should describe the countries basic facts, the government, and so on for each country.
I feel that collaborative tools have a lot of uses not only in the classroom but also for business projects, etc. People are so busy these days that it is difficult to find time where two or more people can get together outside the classroom, or the workplace.