Students participating in the  Flat Classroom® Projects do handshakes at the beginning of projects.  These are typically short introductory texts, audio segments, or video podcasts. Here is a sample of one recently posted handshake by one of Amy Jambor's students:

  Today teacher Yvonne Hicks had her students on the ning en masse, working on their profiles, their handshakes, and posting a response to her.  She asked the students what they hoped to accomplish during this project.  Here are their responses
  The two student responses pictured here discuss the excitement of global collaboration.  Over 400 high school students are introducing themselves in the project's communication spaces this week, using text, audio, and video. Learn more about Flat Classroom® Projects at http://www.flatclassroomproject.net/