Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age: Using Technology to Develop Effective Groups

Overview

This book is the first team-building guide to creatively engage young adults living in an age of cyber-communities. With activities designed to strengthen how young people communicate and the use of the cutting-edge technology they thrive upon, this original new book helps readers build genuine, face-to-face connections.

Understanding the importance young adults place on self-expression, evident in everything from their personalised ring tones and tattoos to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, the goal of the book is to encourage students to positively express their individuality and uniqueness to others.

In a fresh approach to teambuilding, the guide introduces brand-new activities and adds technological twists to proven methods. Technology changes rapidly, but the messages taught in this text will remain timeless.

It is hoped the fun and unique activities outlined in this text will improve relationships among students. Establishing a safe atmosphere where individuals feel free to share honestly and thoughtfully is paramount for these activities. The authors believe that reaching students is a top priority in both the educational and relational realms and they have designed this book with those ideas in mind.

Marketing & Promotions

Featured at various PE events throughout the UK and Europe Including the Youth Sport Trust Conference.

Featured in the UKPE catalogue sent to PE teachers, coaches and recreational sport leaders.

Featured in Human Kinetics monthly UKPE E-Newsletter sent to over 5,000 subscribers.

Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age will help you promote interpersonal communication and encourage young people to express their individuality and build face-to-face relationships. The activities use the technology that today’s young adults thrive on (including cell phones, social networking sites, MP3 players, blogs, and digital cameras) as an opportunity for education and enlightenment.

Brent D. Wolfe, PhD, is assistant professor in the department of hospitality, tourism, and family and consumer sciences at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.

Working in higher education for the past decade, Wolfe has developed and taught courses on facilitating experiential and team-building activities. Specifically, Wolfe uses experiential activities with university freshmen to promote unity in the classroom and connectedness to the university. Working with these students allows him continued involvement with young adults and their unique interests, perspectives, and life challenges.

Wolfe has presented his research on facilitation and debriefing at numerous international and national conferences and has authored several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. In 2006, he was awarded the Junior Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Southern Mississippi.

As a certified therapeutic recreation specialist, Wolfe works as a consultant for the Luckday Citizenship Scholars Program, developing and testing new team-building techniques and practicing his group-development and relationship-building skills.

Wolfe is a member of the National Therapeutic Recreation Society where he currently serves as president. He was also a member of the Association for Challenge Course Technology and the Association for Outdoor Recreation and Education.

In his free time, Wolfe enjoys learning about the latest in digital technologies. He also enjoys playing disc golf and hide-and-seek with his two-year-old daughter. He resides in Statesboro with his wife, Rebecca, and their daughter, Austyn Grace.

Colbey Penton Sparkman has more than 10 years of experience working with young adults as a campus minister and church-based minister. Previously, Sparkman served as minister to collegiates at First Baptist Church in Hattiesburg and as a campus minister at Florida State University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Penton Sparkman currently works as a leadership development consultant and communications specialist for National Collegiate Ministry. She received her master of divinity degree in 2000 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Penton Sparkman, her husband, Larry, and three young daughters live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In her leisure time she enjoys graphic design, triathlon training, and vegetable gardening.