Stop, Collaborate & Listen

Teamwork. We’ve all done it. Some of us thrive in a team environment. Others, like myself, dreaded when a teacher announced it was time to split up into groups. I can’t recall most of the projects we worked on, but I do remember learning about other people. One particular experience stands out above the rest.

I’m a visual person and love the written word, which made it easy to join the high school newspaper staff. Our team of editors cut and pasted articles the old-fashioned way and developed photographs in the dark room. We took each of our unique abilities and successfully worked together under the guidance of our adviser. The end result was an award-winning student newspaper.

We were Collaborators on a project, the student newspaper, and our adviser was also our Mentor. We learned the importance of teamwork and how to benefit from expert advice.

Experiences like this are life-changing and can now happen outside the classroom thanks to the Internet. People from around the world are working together, collaborating with and mentoring each other. We are just beginning to see this at ^IfMine.

An ^IfMine user has the ability to create projects, but can also become a Mentor, Collaborator…or both. What’s the difference?

Like the newspaper adviser, a Mentor on ^IfMine is a person whose comments are valuable and helpful. A Mentor gives feedback to guide the development and success of a project.

And like the team of editors, Collaborators work together and contribute to a project. A Collaborator is able to edit project descriptions, add photos or documents and even Evolve the project as it progresses.

Are you ready to benefit from teamwork? Take the first step and sign up for ^IfMine. Do you know other people who have ideas needing feedback? Share this post with them.

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Photo Source: wonderferret (Flickr)