Resources+for+better+collaboration

Digital Collaboration
Digital collaboration mediums are some of the most effective tools to foster consistent contact and engagement between faculty members. Personally, I have faced many challenges in trying to create a digitally collaborative climate amongst my department team at school for a variety of reasons. Namely, many of my colleagues are digital immigrants, who have limited experience using technology and, frankly, are intimidated by many of the technologies out there and the unfamiliarity that accompanies using them. This resource page outlines a few resources that one might consider using to collaborate with fellow faculty members at one's school, with accompanying information on how to effectively utilize and guide peers in learning how to navigate the various mediums. This is a page that I plan on emailing to all of my department team members at the beginning of the school year and then discussing which mediums we might be able to most effectively use. If you are in a similar situation where you feel as though your colleagues are not necessarily as tech-savvy as you, I encourage you to make use of this resources page!

__Google Docs:__
Perhaps one of the most effective tools for communication and collaboration in real-time, google docs offers a web-based cloud format to seamlessly communicate, share, and edit information amongst groups of people. Below are some helpful links to information on how to get started using google docs:

[|Google Docs (website)]

[|What is Google Docs?]

"[|Google Docs in Plain English" (expanded explanation of the functionality of google docs]

[|Google Docs Tutorial (step-by-step how to use)]

__GroupMe:__
GroupMe is a group text message application that allows participants to communicate to one another via phone and/or computer (having a smartphone is not a prerequisite for using this application). Once someone creates an account and joins a GroupMe thread, the individual can receive messages directly to their phone (via text), to the GroupMe application (if installed on phone), or can check messages via the GroupMe.com website. The beauty of this app is that regardless of how sophisticated the technology that any individual possess is, everyone can participate. This app is great for communicating important messages across a particular group of people (whether it be an entire faculty or just a department team):

[|Website: GroupMe.com]

[|Wall Street Journal Review and Explanation]

Note: Setting up the GroupMe thread for a given group of people is the only part that really requires any level of savviness with technology. Beyond that, to participate in a thread is really straightforward and simply requires a basic level of comfort with technology.

__Dropbox:__
For department teams that are more focused on sharing sources and less so on collaboratively working on sources, Dropbox is probably the better supportive medium to use than google docs. Dropbox will enable teams to share a large amount of files in a very organized manner with one another across the cloud.

[|Dropbox Tour (good place to get started)]

[|How to set up an account]

[|Dropbox Tutorial (step-by-step of how to use)]

__Wikispaces:__
Wikispaces is another great forum to exchange and share information as well as build curriculum together as a team. Wikispaces enables users to access and edit information together, while seamlessly sharing internet imbedded information through hyperlinks, file uploads, and widgets. Wikispaces can be a little bit less intuitive to navigate than the previous listed mediums, though it is a very powerful resource worth exploring.

Wikispaces website

[|Wikispaces introduction (tutorial)]

[|Wikispaces extended step-by-step tutorial]