Leveraging tools and techniques to facilitate online team building and collaboration.
Additional methods that support/enhance collaboration and teamwork
When every stage of a collaborative learning project is carried out online, and all participants are working remotely, a variety of applications and tools may be helpful. The chief difficulties in collaborative learning are rooted in the unevenness of group members. They start at different levels of subject knowledge, bring different levels of collaborative skills, and are more connected to some members than others, consequently their contributions to the project are not equal. Online learning adds access to and familiarity with technology as other variables.
Monitoring and guiding students work may be of particular importance in an all-remote environment:
- Could use the same vehicle for online office hours (Zoom, Blue Jeans). Zoom breakout groups allow all students to be invited at a common time, hear instructions and then be split into working groups with their own meeting. The larger group can be reconvened after a set period. Instructors can float between groups offering feedback.
- Less formal means (Skype, FaceTime, group texts) may allow further collaboration outside of scheduled class time. Absence of instructor may be more comfortable.
- Tandem is facilitation software for groups. It can help balance groups in a number of ways, by gender, primary language or personality type. It monitors the contributions of each person and offers feedback to improve team performance. It also offers these records to the instructor, who can intervene and ensure groups are functioning equitably. Tandem attempts to teach students collaboration skills and offer a measure of team health. Zoom sessions let the instructor be partially present and prod the students toward more effective collaboration. Either way, instructors must be proactive. This will also help in fair assessment. If students are left to structure the collaboration for themselves, there may be poor results.
The applications needed are all available and free, but both instructor and student need to be trained in their use. Teaching collaboration skills is a necessary prerequisite to employing them in the quest for higher learning. Each instructor must decide if there is time enough in the course. Devices must be modern enough to handle the demands of video conferencing.