We are starting to see competition hotting up to become the main Spanish authoring group. There are now seven groups. All are set as ‘public’, meaning any teacher can join them. Two have no questions or tasks, so they don’t appear in the author group list yet. 
As you can see, it’s very early days for any of these groups. Only one has more than one question, only one has more than one member and two don’t even have colophons yet. Surprisingly, none have a concise and attractive description yet.
The general rule for any group moderator trying to get their group up to critical mass is that you have to push like fury in the first few weeks. Here are my tips for early-days author group building:
- Get the basics in place – Name, colophon, good description, open access.
- Write at least 20 questions as quickly as you can. Keep them simple, so they are quick to do. You can do the fancy stuff later.
- Compile one or two quizzes that people can try out. Even if they are not perfect, they will build both your confidence and that of other group members.
- Write at least one short-text test, and perhaps an ePortfolio task. They are quick to do, and will appeal to teachers who don’t particularly get on with quizzes.
- Write to every teacher who joins the group and welcome them in. Find out what they hope to achieve and what they might contribute. Keep your expectations low, though. In most groups, only about one member in ten actually contributes.
- Notwithstanding the above, the day the group takes off will be the day you recruit one other teacher who can match your energy. I’ve seen this time and again.
And meanwhile, good luck to all the Spanish group moderators!
Yacapaca 