BLogarithm

Sometimes face to face collaboration between educators just isn’t possible. Over the years I’ve had to be creative in finding solutions to get the work done.

In a previous life I served as math department chair at a small Atlanta middle school. One of our major challenges was learning, and finding the time, to collaborate within and across grade levels. I implemented the use of a couple of tools and strategies that made us better at working together without being together.

The tools we used are readily available to anyone with an internet connection and are commonplace in corporate and high tech environments. As usual, educators are woefully behind the learning curve in the effective use and implementation of tools that can make our jobs easier. Hopefully this post will find its way into the hands of educators with too many tasks, very little time, and a need for something to make the job easier.

The Tools

Skype – We often used Skype to either have video or chat conferences on evenings and weekends. Skype lets us have real time conversations when writing lessons or modifying plans for special needs students when face to face meetings just weren’t possible.

Google Docs – I love Google Docs because it let all of the math teachers on a particular grade level edit a single document. In this way, we were able to cut the time needed to write unit plans ( usually 4-6 week units ) down from days to hours. General education and special education teachers each contributed to the plans and in this way we were able to effectively serve our entire student population. We generally used Google Docs and Skype at the same time so no one stepped on anyone’s toes while we worked.

Drop Box – Drop Box is my newest asynchronous collaboration tool. The free account provides 2GB of space and it provides you with a local folder on one or more computers that automatically syncs and updates whenever a net connection is available. I have Drop Box on my work issued laptop as well as my personal laptop. This allows me to work on writing curriculum anywhere and always being able to access those files. It’s like a virtual thumb drive minus the hardware. I always use my Drop Box folders to store lesson plans, unit plans, tests, or other curriculum materials that I’m writing.

What tools do you use to collaborate when time, space, and distance do not allow face to face work to take place ?

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