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

Teens and young adults have connected with technology in unprecedented ways. Take a look at your average high school or college campus and you’ll see what a huge part technology plays in their lives. Computers, wi-fi networks, smart phones, and MP3 players allow young people 24/7 access to technology. Team-Building Activities for the DigitalAge will show you how to use that technology to help them connect with each other, too.

Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age will help you promote interpersonal communication and encourage young people to positively express their individuality and build face-to-face relationships by using technology. The activities use the technology that young adults thrive on—including cell phones, social networking sites, MP3 players, blogs, and digital cameras—as an opportunity for education and enlightenment. Each of the activities serves as the basis for discussion about topics such as diversity and cultural sensitivity, teamwork and problem solving, self-reflection and self-exploration, stereotypes, communication and self-expression, and observation and discernment.

Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age begins with a user’s guide that will help you make the most of the book. The authors offer tips for planning, preparing, and leading the activities, plus ideas for creating a supportive environment that encourages respect and the safe sharing of information. They also share techniques for facilitating conversations that help participants understand the purpose of the activities and apply the information on both personal and group levels. This makes the activities not only entertaining but also significant on a deeper level.

The activities are organized by the technology used (photo, Internet, texting, and audio and video), and the book features an activity finder that includes the suggested purpose or goals for each activity so you can find the one that best meets the needs of your group. For each activity you’ll find instructions for leading the activity, a list of the technology and other materials needed, a goal for the activity, and several questions to help jump-start conversation so participants can explore the purpose of the activity and discuss what they’ve learned. You’ll also find suggestions for running the activities when the requisite technology isn’t readily available and for modifying the activities to make them more challenging.

With Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age, you’ll turn young people’s favorite technologies into tools that build communication skills and encourage engagement and personal connections. Upgrade your activity repertoire with Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age and make team building meaningful and—technically speaking—just plain fun!

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.