Collaborations can include classes in multiple schools if there is appropriate email connectivity. Multiple collaborations can be hosted on a single server machine. Original writings, commentary, and any multimedia materials provided by students must be approved by the student's teacher before they are visible to others in a collaboration. The system associates each student with a teacher. Teachers have an expanded menu that allows them to approve student work and access administrative functions such as adding new users and setting up new collaborations.
Teachers can also edit the welcome screen and navigation bars.
Being located on a computer, Streams OnLine provides a solution to the problem often faced by teachers of where to store paper portfolios. Here, student work is entered into a computer, stored and retrieved at the terminal, easily shared in a classroom and between schools. Everyone within a collaboration who has access to a computer terminal networked to a Streams server, can retrieve and view the work of others in the collaboration. There is always the option to print out their work if necessary. The technologies employed for Streams OnLine allow it to work in labs or classrooms equipped with older desktop computers.