Connecting Communities Using Free & Almost Free Services

The early learning community benefits from passionate individuals from all walks of life. Here in Washington State, this community includes people from diverse backgrounds and areas. However, connecting these groups can sometimes be a challenge because of geography and distance.

Parents and families getting together from Clallam County might want to share resources with kindergarten teachers brainstorming curriculum in Spokane. This distance apart can sometimes pose a challenge to effective collaboration.

Luckily some free (and almost free) tools exist to help support this dialog on early learning. These resources can help you talk, share documents, and better connect with partners.

Disclaimer:  The Foundation for Early Learning does not endorse the use of products mentioned in this blog.  They are merely examples of available resources that the community could use. There are plenty of products available on the web - I encourage you to explore the web to see what products will work for your unique needs.

Simple Websites - While hiring a designer and hosting a website is essential for many organizations, sometimes a simple place online to present information works just as well, and can be less time and money intensive.

One option is Google Sites, a free service where you can instantly create a home landing page for your organization or coalition. You can post comments and media, collectively develop documents and can even integrate presentation materials.  An example of this service is www.google.com/sites

Conference Calls - Many times packed schedules or a group’s distance apart can make phone calls a better option than in-person meetings. When you’re ready to set up your conference call, a few services can help. If you don’t mind covering your long distance charges, you can use www.FreeConferenceCall.com, an inexpensive teleconferencing service that permits dozens of call participants on the same line, at the same time.

If the call organizer wants to provide a toll-free calling number for participants, you can choose another conference call service – www.simpletollfree.com. This site provides set rates and no contract is required.

Group Email Messages - In addition to group phone calls, group messaging can be an effective way to bridge geographical distance between members. While most email programs (Microsoft Outlook, etc) permit group messages, many restrict this to at most 50 addresses per email. One solution to this is to create your own mailing list. You then simply send out a single message to the unique email address, and it is in turn sent to all subscribers. Two free options include:

Yahoo Groups -  http://groups.yahoo.com

Google Groups – http://groups.google.com

Document Sharing - What happens when you need to send a large file to a friend or collation member? Forget copying files to a CD-ROM and mailing the disk, try using YouSendIt.com. This service (free for up to 100mb per message) enables you to zip together several documents or send one large file to friends. After uploading the file, you enter you email address and the recipient’s address and in a few moment they will receive an email with a link to the file to download. It is that easy and quick. Try it out at www.yousendit.com

I hope these resources make communicating with partners across town and across Washington State easier. If you have any questions, or would like help using these resources, please let me know at joel@earlylearning.org.

Do you have any other free or low-cost communication resources you would suggest?

Feel free to share them by adding a comment below.