Team Communication Platforms

[Fusion_Clint]

We are trying Bootcamp this year. It is an online project management service that is free for schools.

https://basecamp.com/

The jury is still out, but it is looking promising. You can use your normal computer or the mobile device app.

It is possible to set up multiple sub-teams and/or projects with milestones and dues dates with scheduled prompts for everyone to add their input/update. It also has several areas for online messaging and brainstorming. It also allows for file uploads and linking to google docs.

So far I am pleased. Check out the video on the link I posted.

[nuclearnerd]

Basecamp is great, and free for educators as mentioned. They recently added an instant messaging system called pings ( to better compete with Slack) and we use it all the time for private conversations.

The one thing I've found is that there are so many features, you need to implement a bit of team policy to keep it useful. Most importantly, conversations should be kept in their own message board threads, and people should be careful to make sure only the right people are on the notification list. Since all replies are "reply all", information can be quickly buried in "me too" or other unrelated posts if you're not careful.

[jayred1127]

My team has been using Remind forever and it works great. GroupMe is also great with large groups.