Online Tools for Groups

Blackboard Organizations and Web 2.0 Tools Qlubb & Wiggio
Groups can move into the online world with Blackboard and web 2.0 tools Qlubb and Wiggio. Groups can benefit with shared calendars, file storage, event invites & rsvps, photo sharing, polls, and more. Any kind of group from professional organizations, campus clubs, or hobby groups can use these tools to enhance communication and make organizing easier.

Working within the TWU Community

• Blackboard offers organizations for group use. Department faculty & staff groups, campus organizations, or specific majors within departments can use this online resource to share announcements, forms, discussion boards and more. Some organizations use this feature to do training or offer policies and procedures, such as Risk Management. Organizations can even be structured so that users can enroll themselves, to minimize administrative functions. Information in organizations can be set up to request acknowledgement of receipt by users for documentation purposes. To request an organization, fill out an organization request form.

Working outside TWU

• Qlubb offers event calendaring, sign up sheets, photo sharing, member rosters, file sharing, task reminder service, group invites and RSVPs, and bulletin boards.
  
  
• Wiggio offers file sharing and editing, group calendars, polling, posting of links, conference calls, chatting online, mass texting, as well as voice and email messages to the group. Each member can determine their communication preferences.

Thank you to Professor Patricia Nunn, Department Chair, Dental Hygiene Program for this question.

Web 2.0 tools are available to anyone with internet access. Each Web 2.0 tool website offers information about that tool including support options, if available.

Tip of the Week: Organizing Team Projects

Web 2.0 Tools: Central Desktop, Comindwork, or AceProject
Projects can include sharing files, timelines, charts, graphs, discussions, meetings, and more. Projects may be faculty research, staff office projects, departmental accreditation, or even group projects within classes. There are many Web 2.0 tools that offer helpful tools to work within teams both inside the TWU community and with those outside the university.

What’s the difference?

• Comindwork offers member management, invites, project blogs, wikis, milestones, time logging, file sharing, cases/issues, history, search, and reports. The free account offers 1 active project, unlimited users, and 20 MB file storage. All accounts offer the following:
  
  Collaboration: to-do lists, milestones, discussions, tickets, time tracking, RSS, reminders, notifications
  
  Knowledge management: enterprise wiki, documents, blog, files storage, tagging, linking, versions
  
  Tools: charts, reports, reply and upload by email, rich editor, video reply, semantic search, export/import
  

• Ace Project includes projects, tasks, documents, calendars, statistics, forums, time reports, task reports, time approval, notes and Gantt charts. The free account offers up to 5 users, 5 projects, 50 MB of storage space.
  

• Central Desktop offers wikis, databases, project blogs, and user forums. The free account offers 2 workspaces, up to 5 members per workspace, 25 MB of space, as well as audio conferencing and SSL (256 bit encryption).

Thank you to Jacqueline Folsom, Program Coordinator, Associate Provost Office for this question.

Tip of the Week: Managing Multiple Schedules

Applications: Outlook Web 2.0 Tools: Tungle & Doodle
Scheduling a meeting with multiple people can be challenging. Finding a time that works for everyone is the first step. To manage multiple schedules, there are several technology tools available.

Within the TWU Community
Microsoft Outlook calendars offer schedule availability options. Each faculty and staff member can designate times as busy, free, tentative, or out of the office.
To schedule a meeting in Outlook:

1. Click on the calendar tab in the navigation pane
2. Select the date for the meeting
3. Right-click to open the dialog box and choose an option such as New Appointment, New All Day Event, New Meeting Request, etc.
4. A new dialog box will open. Select options for title, location, length of meeting, reminders, importance, etc.

When inviting others to a meeting with a meeting request, they are given the option to accept, decline, or mark tentative. The meeting request then keeps track for you of who has responded and how.

Outside the TWU Community
When working with a group of people from outside the campus, there are Web 2.0 tools available to use in scheduling. Tungle and Doodle are web based applications that have free account options.

Tungle synchronizes several calendars of different types including Google apps and Microsoft Office Outlook. Tungle can be accessed using accounts you may already have including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Tungle also offers an app for smartphone users.

Doodle synchronizes calendars of different types including Google, Microsoft Office Outlook, ICal, Yahoo, and Live. Registration is optional. Doodle also offers an app for smartphone users.

Thank you to Matt Moustakas, Director of Environmental, Safety & Health, Facilities Management & Construction for sharing these tools!