Wiggio

Wiggio – project management for collaboration efforts.  Virtual meetings, calendar, to-do lists, polling, virtual file sharing Price:  Free      Users:  anyone   Review of Wiggio by Joe Posante: Basic information: What does the method or tool "do" ­ in other words, what skills, practices, and/or means of collaboration are supported by this method or tool?

• Wiggio is a wonderful blend of a learning collaborative platform, Social Media feed, polling and above all else allows the ability to schedule meetings whether in person, conference calls, virtual meetings or a simple chat room.  This allows a variety of abilities to collaborate based on the need and importance of the conversation.  Wiggio for example allows for virtual conference calls and meetings, and the ability to share large files easily.   I find the most helpful, but possibly the most overlooked tool is the calendar.  With this tool you can tell that Wiggio took a page from Google in designing the flexibility and detailed task orientation with the calendar.  Another important note is that the platform is available by invitation only,  Allowing for password protected works, allowing private information to be shared between invited members only.

Usage: How is the method or tool being (or might it be) used in your current project management and design, your teaching, and/or your graduate coursework? What type of example activity might be developed for utilization by someone unfamiliar with the tool?

• With Wiggio you can use the tool in a variety of ways to not only implement collaboration but also foster and encourage collaboration due to its ease of access of apps within the platform.  I could envision this tool being used within the high school setting and beyond with the students due to the rich availability of apps, lower grades will get a bit lost possibly. Higher education is currently using this platform within Desire2Learn to allow student groups to easily collaborate at all times, not just in the classroom.  Additionally, Wiggio is easy enough that higher education professionals can easily share large data bases, PDF’d files, or other data sets with colleagues around the world without the worry of time zones  I could easily see this site for all K-12 classrooms, not for the students, but with parents at home.  You can use conference calls to schedule parent meetings, allow parents to see upcoming assignments with the calendar, and use the feed to allow transparency with home and school to better involve parents with their students education.  With sharing made easy for group participation, scheduling tasks to be completed with group assignments, and collaboration based on research findings.  The polling can be used for formative assessments as well within the assignments, receiving valuable feedback on curriculum tasks, or simply getting background information on the students to know how to better scaffold and differentiate instruction and to involve parents as an early intervention tool if students are not performing well in the classroom.

Design: What are the affordances and constraints of this particular method or tool in relation to current/future collaboration, team or group work, and project management?

• Wiggio is a completely free tool.  FREE!  All teachers like free, and this platform allows a variety of tools within its platform.  There is no need to combine many different sites when you have access to valuable tools within one; task manager, calendar, collaborative space, file sharing, polling, messaging options (text and email) virtual meetings/conference calls.  One downside is that Wiggio only offers an mobile app for the Iphone, not yet android.  Which as we all know is only a matter of time before the app is offered among all mobile devices soon.

Relation: How is this method or tool similar/dissimilar to other methods or tools you have previously used? How is it similar/dissimilar to those methods or tools your peers in this course have already reviewed?

• The beauty of Wiggio is many of the different tools within are similar to a variety of different tools I have used.  The calendar is very similar to Google's calendar, the polling too is similar to surveymonkey and google’s forums,  the meeting tool with conference calls remind me of Bluejeans, Hangouts and Skype, the ease of sharing links remind me of the simplicity of using Weebly, and the Folder is similar to any other Cloud device.  Of all of these familiar tools within Wiggio, I believe the one that will become the most familiar to everyone is the Feed.  The Feed cleary is identical to Facebook and LinkedIn.  It is as if the designers had an epiphany of taking some of the best qualities from a variety of different sources and put them in one platform for the sole purpose of collaboration.

Media: Incorporate multiple forms of digital media to illustrate the functionality/purpose of this method or tool.

• Introduction to Wiggio
• Wiggio Official Tutorial:
• Wiggio in the Classroom:

Reflection: How does this method or tool relate to course themes and/or professional practices?

• The platform Wiggio is a wonderful combination of a variety of tried and true sources of collaboration at its simplest forms.  It does not have all of the bells and whistles and fancy background, but it does have access of tools to collaborate by means of mobile, polling, calendar, feeds, and shared folders.
• As an open resource, this tool will allow all levels of educators to easily collaborate across time zones, mediums, and at different levels.  The Privacy option also offers some comfort that not everyone can view/review content without first being invited.
• I recommend Wiggio to all!  It’s so easy!