Thing 6- Online Collaboration

The past couple of weeks, Deb & I have been using Google Docs to work on a policy for textbook administration using our Destiny program at South. It has been very useful since we find it difficult to actually talk to each other during the school day, being both very busy with our jobs. We are establishing a procedure for classroom teachers to use to check out & check in textbooks to students. Our textbook coordinator position was cut about 5 years ago, and since then we have not used the Textlink program; teachers have been checking out texts to students using whatever system they choose. Since the district has hired a textbook administrator, we have been asked to come up with a plan for teachers to use the system again. We plan to have teachers use scanners in their classrooms to circulate texts; we will train them to use the system and will assign scanners to the major departments in the hope that this will help keep track of the books. This week, in a meeting with the textbook administrator, I introduced him to the use of GoogleDocs to work with various people on the district-wide committee. He was excited about the possibilities of communicating with others without having to schedule in-person meetings, which is always a challenge. It's such an easy way to work on a single document with many people having input to the final product. I am so glad I was able to pass on yet another tool that I have learned through MILI.