Collaborating in Toolbox

Bill Blynt
Nov 30, 2009

What is the easiest way to share my work with a colleague? This is a question that is often asked by teachers utilizing the Toolbox. Each Toolbox member can elect to share their work with an entire state, district, school staff or with just specific individuals. One easy way to share your work is to establish a shared folder. To create a new folder to hold work to be shared, simply right click on your name, go to ‘New' and select ‘Folder'. You will be asked to name the folder. Once the folder is created, you can go to ‘Utilities' and add those individuals or groups whom you wish to share this folder and all the documents it holds. The documents in this folder can be share ‘Read Only' or ‘Full Access'. If you elected to share ‘Read Only' those individuals you have shared it with can view and print a copy of any of the items. They can also elect to make a copy and send it to their own folder. With ‘Read Only' rights, they will not be able to change any item in the folder. If you elect to share the folder ‘Full Access', the items can not only be viewed and printed but can also be opened and changed by anyone have these rights.

Individuals electing to share items ‘Read Only' are offering their colleagues the opportunity to view the items but only change them if they send them to their own folder. Once in their own folder they can make any adjustments they want but none of these changes will impact the original work. Items should only be shared ‘Full Access' when two or more people are actively collaborating on the development of a lesson or unit. In ‘Full Access' any changes made to the documents are recorded and saved. These changes override any previous documents.

After you have created a folder to share (that you have named), you must go to the Explorer view to designate with whom you want to share this folder. Once there, right click on the shared folder, go to ‘Utilities', select ‘Sharing'. Once in sharing you can add the individual members, school staff or state you want to share the item with. Select if you want to share this folder ‘Read Only' or ‘Full Access'. You may elect to share the folder with some individuals ‘Read Only' and others ‘Full Access'.

Once the folder has been shared, anything you move or copy into this folder will be shared. In addition, other members can copy or move items into this folder to be shared. The individual who created the folder will find it listed in My Documents. Those individuals you shared it with will find the folder under the Shared with Me tab under the creator's name. They will search for the creators name and then locate the shared folder. Clicking on the + in front of the folder will open it to reveal the contents. They can view the items or print them. If they want a copy they can copy it and paste it in their personal folder. Once it is in their personal folder it moves from read only to full access.

Although sharing may seem complicated, once the folders and members are established it is quite a simple process. Having the ability to share or collaborated on lessons is beneficial to everyone.

Remember almost all LEARNING-FOCUSED notebooks and flipcharts have a Toolbox Unit and Lesson Planning Tool license key on the front or back cover. These can be used to open a Toolbox account or extend the subscription of a current one.