Collaborative Environments is a trend that has been in implemented by educators and businesses for many years. It has been proven that students/employees who collaborate with others improve higher-order traits such as student motivation, problem solving, inter-personal and inter-racial relationships and creativity.
How have Collaborative Environments changed over time?
The Collaborative Environment trend has grown and evolved tremendously over the past 10 years. Before technology advanced and became accessible in schools, students would work together with other students in their classroom to complete tasks. But with the growing availability and abilities of technology and web spaces, many educators now use online spaces as a way to encourage and facilitate discussion and collaboration between students and other educators at their school and all over the world.
Why are Online Collaborative Environments so great?
The essential attribute of an effective Collaborative Environment is that it makes it easy for people to share their ideas, you can easily monitor their collective progress and you can see how ideas have evolved throughout the process.
Most of the online tools designed and utilized for collaboration are widely used because:
- they are easy to use
- low cost (many are free)
- they are accessible with a simple web browser
Because of the ease of use and availability of many cloud based collaborative environments, it is possible to integrate these applications into a variety of settings.
Teachers & Students:
Online Collaborative Environments are a valuable resource for educators to utilize when creating lessons or when trying to implement new ideas into their classroom or school. Joint classroom-based projects are a great way for educators to expose students to learners and perspectives from around the globe. Students can work together to solve problems, engage in discussions and communicate with other peers or mentors around the world.
Watch the video below to see how you could incorporate Google Forms into your classroom to encourage collaboration between students!
Along with Google Drive, wikis are another great collaborative resource to use in the education setting. A "Wiki" a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users. Students can use a wiki to add summaries of their thoughts, share reflections, map concepts and brainstorm topics with other students. Teachers can use a wiki to collaborate with educators around the world and also provide feedback.
One of the best parts about using a Collaborative Environment on the web is that it can be accessed anywhere because most are "cloud based." This means that teachers, students and their families can access information anywhere that they have a mobile device or computer. Students can access schoolwork at home, as well as in school, and parents can view the work as well. Teachers can edit work or send out messages in a timely manner with the use of cloud based collaboration.
Businesses:
Utilizing web tools to facilitate a collaborative environment for businesses is a necessity! People need access to the best tools regardless of where they are or what device they are using. Using cloud-based resources offers flexibility and efficiency and encourages collaboration wherever the person is located.
* Here are a few tips for those who plan to begin using an online cloud-based tool for collaboration:
Before the collaboration:
- Each student needs an email address.
- Most of the collaborative cloud-based tools require that each student have an email address. Once you have determined the best site to use, begin the process of registering the students. You may need to obtain parental permission before creating the accounts. Wikis usually allow you to create an account on the site.
- Collaboration is a skill that should be taught.
- Demonstrate what a good collaborative session would look like by editing an entry then making comments about that edit. Show examples of a finished document and that document’s history so that students can see the evolution (many Wikipedia articles are good examples of the collaborative process).
- Make sure that privacy settings include only class members and yourself, and then explainthese settings to the class.
- Decide whether to require a particular level of participation.
- Remind your students that participation includes not only helping to create the product, but also giving feedback to peers.
- Walk through all of the features of the tools that the students will use.
- Create an FAQ or handout to remind them as they work. Discuss how the product will be assessed. Make sure to include points for giving feedback and participating in discussions.
During the collaboration:
- Be an active participant. Respond to posts and help guide the discussions if they seem to be off track.
- Use class time to demonstrate particularly effective contributions. If possible, find a section of the product that has had particularly wide participation.
- Allow class time to discuss technical or other issues that students have experienced.
- Address all team questions within 24 hours
** Looking for information on how to teach effective collaboration skills? Download this presentation!
