Collaboration is here now!
Sometimes I like to stop and think how far we have come in the last few years. I remember waiting for my sisters to get off the phone (a landline back then) so I could make some calls to my friends in high school. Around that time email and the internet were just taking off - this was the very early 1990's. Just think, in 1992 the first text message was sent!
Fast-forward to today and we can scarecely think of a time when we did not have cell phones, internet, texting, and email. However, now we are seeing the rise of a new era - a collaborative era! With technology today there is no reason to work on anything alone. That was the power of the internet after all, the whole world at your fingertips but that is more true today than it was in 1992.
This ability to share, collaborate, and network with others makes our ideas, our work, and our knowledge elevate to a whole new level. The following are just a few ways we have been collaborating at Lopatcong:
- Our teachers are working on curriculum and other documents together using Google Docs. The teachers don't have to spend time in a meeting or even at school discussing lessons. They can sit comfortably in front of their tv's while chatting inside a Google Doc and working on documents in real time together. Google Docs in Plain English
- Have a question that is beyond the scope of Lopatcong's four walls? No problem - just hop on Skype (http://www.skype.com). Just last month I was trying to describe to the 8th grade what Web Design is. However, I will be the first to admit I am no expert...So we Skyped a friend of mine in from Philadelphia that owns his own web design company and the students asked him 15 minutes worth of questions. Now THAT is POWERFUL!
- My Big Campus is the first big step for our students to collaborate using technology (www.mybigcampus.com). The students have always worked in groups in school but now the students can continue to work together outside of school. In the safe environment of My Big Campus students blog together, discuss homework together, and comment on each other's work.
These are just a few examples of how the students are collaborating today. This is so important because the jobs they will have (jobs that probably don't even exist yet) will require them to be able to work collaboratively with their peers from around the world. Our students will begin a work day by joining an online meeting with their sister offices in England, India, and Japan - just another typical day at the office for our students here at Lopat.