To a large extent, schools encourage collaboration all the time, especially in countries such as the United States, Britain, and Australia. Much of what goes on in schools is fairly short-term. There are, however, an increasing number of teachers who are seeing the potential value in longer-term projects in which students have to work together. Various reports, along with anecdotal evidence and the author's own experience, strongly suggest that knowledge discovered or created together is more likely to be retained. Collaboration is not about making great suggestions, but playing a full part in a project, discussing issues and working together through disagreements to find a solution that is agreeable to all. The author is particularly interested in online collaborative projects working across international boundaries. In that context, collaboration or lack of it tends to show up very quickly because the tools that are used to facilitate discussion leave a trail, a record, that can be scrutinised at leisure. In this article, the author discusses the factors to be considered when setting up a social collaboration project and provides some suggestions for a successful online collaborative project.