Introduction

The concept for this site began as an assignment for a final project in a Managing Organizational Behavior graduate course during the winter term of 2010/2011 at Plymouth State University with Professor Robyn E. Parker, PhD.  The coursework included small group assignments for the term. Due to the nature of the online class community,  the use of virtual communication technologies was necessary for us to meet to discuss our assignments and to work interactively on on a weekly group memo. We quickly learned that navigating all of the available technologies that can be used for such purposes in small group communications can be challenging for most, and daunting for some. The experiences of my team and our classmates had varied in approach and all utilized some ofthe communication technologies included here. And so the concept for my final project was born.

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Purpose

This site was designed as a resource guide to some of the popular, free technologies that can be help facilitate work in small virtual teams. I have deliberately stayed away from services that provide only limited trials, or would require fees for service. The groupings I used for site navigation focused specifically on the types of technologies commonly used in our virtual teams. IThis was actually quite difficult as many of the technologies could also be placed in at least one other category. As my team experienced, finding the right combinations of technologies for your group communications will take some exploration. My hope is that this site will provide you a map to guide that journey!

As technologies quickly change and evolve I do expect that the content of the site will need to be updated, and I plan to maintain the content to keep it current and fresh for future groups of students. If you have any suggestions for improvement or notice any issues as you navigate the site, please send me a note using the contact form.

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