Collaboration Tools Used in Education
- theresearchhub2
- Aug 4, 2022
- 5 min read
By Cerease Nevins-Bennett
August 4, 2022
With the advent of technology, a number of collaborative tools have been used in education to conduct group meetings; share documents; share ideas; and carry out projects. These collaborative tools allow two or more learners to work together toward the achievements of common goals by sharing knowledge, learning, and building consensus (Lomas, Burke & Page, 2008).
Commonly used collaboration tools
Instant messaging, chat, Skype, email, professional networks, telephone and conference calls are but a few of the tools that can be used to communicate while working as a team (lesson notes
, 2019). However, other tools include Google Apps for Education (GAFE); Dropbox; Skype; Wikis; and Zoom are tools that we have at our regular disposal but seems not to fully utilize them.
Dropbox
By using Dropbox students can share files and folders with each other to work collaboratively as a group. Students are able to upload and share information which eliminates the need for face-to-face meetings and printing copies of materials; which of course is time consuming and costly. Teachers may allow students to use Dropbox to access all the necessary files for learning purposes and to submit assignments when due; it may also be used as a repository for keeping daily lesson plans and curriculum where teachers can share amongst themselves (Bryan, 2014).
Wikis
Wikis are online interlinked documents that can be edited by multiple authors. It is a great platform for collectively updating information, and are therefore very useful in a classroom setting. I am almost sure that as students we copy and paste from Wikipedia not realizing that it is untrustworthy because multiple people can edit the document anytime. Wiki provide spaces for collaborative literary writing or editing: open up the writing process to peer review or set up a space for thesis editing between a student and his/her advisor. In addition, class projects with a reference or encyclopedic format such as instructions, manuals, glossaries; media libraries, or bibliographies may be done using Wiki space. As educators, we can create simple spaces for group or individual student projects, online study groups, or spaces for brainstorming and/or project planning.
Zoom
Zoom is a powerful collaboration tool that features video breakout rooms, multi-sharing, polling, and group chats for educational purposes allowing students to learn at their own pace. With this tool teachers can include virtual tutoring, advising, career counseling, office hours, study hall, and mentoring which give students the opportunities to learn beyond the classroom. Zoom may be used by administrators of different institutions to collaborate by connecting dispersed schools and campuses for important announcements, safety information, and events via audio and video.
There are many advantages to using Zoom:
· The quality of the call is much better compared to other video conferencing tools such as Skype and OOVOO.
· The annotations for screen sharing is very useful · It is lightweight with no real problems/bugs · You can create recurring meetings and use the same link for your learners
Google Apps for Education (GAFE)
Google has transformed our ability to collaborate as students and educators in the 21st century through their Google Apps called GAFE
Understanding educational technology trends & Issues tools: Online communication & collaboration. [Online image] Retrieved from https://online.tarleton.edu/Home_files/EDTC_538/Week_2/Week_27.html
Google Docs
If you are looking for a way to work together on a single document at the same time rather than saving it and emailing to the other person to continue editing, then Google Doc is the tool to use. Google Docs is one of several online tools that allow students to work together on a shared document collaboratively in real time.Changes can be tracked and attributed, and the document can be shared with a larger group of students.
Google Drive
With Google Drive, you get word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tools, along with a number of other Google applications; these are typical applications used by us in the classrooms. It allows for multiple users to simultaneously edit documents, and has a window for chatting while you work. Google Drive is useful for writing workshops, group projects, class discussions, and peer review. It is also ideal for teachers to use to give feedback to their students. The con is that it poses potential privacy issues for classrooms with multiple students sharing one device.
Google Slides
Google Slides is a great collaborative tool that creates slides rather like PowerPoint but online.
Teachers can support their lessons with a visual presentation which supports learning. With Google slides it easy to encourage student participation and teachers can encourage collaborative learning in a number of ways. Google Slides are the digital equivalent of note cards which are used in the classroom to brainstorm, research, organize, and for presentation purposes. One great feature of Google Slides is that it is easy to integrate other Google products, such as Sheets (which are spreadsheets), charts, or graphs (Lynch, 2018).
Google Plus Hangouts
I have used hangouts in the past as a means of personal communication but did not know it has potential as a collaborative tool for education purposes. However, it may be used as a form of instructional interaction (synchronous teaching) which enhances the online instructor’s ability to connect with students who may have different learning styles in his/her class.
How do I incorporate Hangouts into my teaching?
It is a tool that Instructors use to digitally record classroom lectures which are then embedded online for students who might have missed classes. Another method is to write a script for a course orientation or lecture and read and record it in a more controlled environment like an office of recording studio. Video podcasts may be recorded and posted using Hangouts.
With Google Hangouts you can:
Connect with another class to share ideas and work collaboratively
Perform lectures using guest speaker to talk to your students
Go on virtual field trips
Attend events
Student presentations
Google sheets
Google Sheets is an excellent tool to help you create, edit, format and share a wide variety of spreadsheets with others; similar to the Microsoft Excel.
Google drawings
This allows for teachers and students to collaborate and use drawing feature to make flow charts, diagrams and other simple graphics. Google drawings are stored in your Google drive, so once one is made it can be shared, updated and uploaded from anywhere. In addition, any later changes you make will automatically be updated even if you have it posted on a Google Site.
Finding the right collaboration tool
There are many other collaborative tools on the market that can be used in the field of education; those mentioned above are just the common ones we see on our computer screen but never know their full functionality. In selecting the right tool, one has to look at the reasons for using the tool; ease of use; accessibility; and cost (Lecture notes). In addition, the tools must be evaluated by using the five step criteria of: access; usability; privacy and intellectual property; workload and time management; and fun factors. There are other collaborative tools include to be used in education such as: Twiddla; Bubbl.us; Edmodo; Yammer; Vyew; Cacoo; Titanpad; HaikuLearning; Wiggio; SocialFolders.me; click on the following link for a description of all these collaborative tools and more.
Advantages of using google documents for collaboration
Fig. Understanding educational technology trends & Issues tools: Online communication & collaboration. [Online image] Retrieved from https://online.tarleton.edu/Home_files/EDTC_538/Week_2/Week_27.html
Criteria 5: Fun Factor
Reference
Bryan, (2013, May 15). Using Dropbox in Teaching and Research. Retrieved from https://tlt.cofc.edu/2013/05/15/using-dropbox-in-teaching-and-research/
Lomas, C., Burke, M. & Page, C. L. (2008). Collaboration tools. Retrieved from https://aect.org/docs/ELI3020.pdf
LRT Editor. (2018, October 10). Introducing Zoom for Teaching and Learning [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.smith.edu/edtech/introducing-zoom
Lynch, M (2018, May 28). How to use Google Slides in the classroom [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-to-use-google-slides-in-the-classroom/
Suite Spott. (2015, May 7). Understanding educational technology trends & Issues tools: Online communication & collaboration. [Online image] Retrieved from https://online.tarleton.edu/Home_files/EDTC_538/Week_2/Week_27.html
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