Collaborative Technology

Collaborative Technology allows people to interact effectively in virtual environments. The technologies are categorized by PCMag (2015) into communication, conferencing, and coordination tools:?

• Communication tools exchange information through asynchronous or synchronous conferencing, email, voicemail, Wikis, and web publishing.??
• Conference tools allow interaction using online forums, online chat, video conferencing, and application sharing.??
• Coordination tools are used to facilitate and manage group activities like using time management software, project management software, knowledge management software, social software system, and learning management systems.?

Using these technologies enhances our educational experience. (Jeremy M. Roschelle, 2000) explains that using technologies supports four fundamental characteristics of learning: active engagement, group participation, frequent interaction and feedback, and connections to real-world contexts.??

Kvavik (2005) surveyed 4,374 (freshmen or senior) students from 13 institutions in five states to learn how technology has improved the learning experience.??

Key findings from the survey were as follows: (Kvavik, 2005)

• Students preferred to have moderate (41.2%) to extensive (30.8%) use of technology in their courses from disciplines like Engineering, Business, Life sciences, Physical sciences, Social sciences, Education, Humanities, and Fine arts?
• Benefits of using technology in courses provided convenience (48.7%), improved learning (12.8%), saved time (16.2%), and helped in managing class activities (16.7%)?
• Additional benefits were improving work efficiency, affecting the way people behave, improving communications, making life more convenient, saving time, and improving the learning ability?
• Positive? (59.1%) to very positive (17%) experience was reported by students when they used a Course Management System, for example, D2L or Blackboard.?

It is evident that collaborative technologies improve the student learning experience, but the decisions about which collaboration tools to use (and how) are driven by the objectives of the assignment in the course (Deal, 2009). The curriculum of the course drives the decisions on the type of technologies that should be used to provide an enriched collaborative learning experience to students. For example, in a Global Education Course, a common requirement for students is to connect with students from other countries to learn about their respective cultures. Instead of physically traveling, students from both sides can connect by using video conferencing technologies like Google Hangout, WebEx, or Skype and work on a collaborative project using tools like Office 365 or Google applications.??

With the increasing use of web-based technologies, it has become easy for anyone to install and access collaborative technologies using browsers like Bing, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari on computers and mobile devices. This opens options for Academic institutions to provide educational experiences in modalities that students can select based on their preference, for example, enrolling in online, blended, or on-campus courses.?

Reference

Deal, A. (2009, January 23). Collaboration Tools. Retrieved from Teaching With Technology White Papers: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/technology/whitepapers/CollaborationTools_Jan09.pdf ?

Jeremy M. Roschelle, R. D. (2000). Changing How and What Children Learn in School with Computer-Based Technologies. The Future of Children, 76-101.?

Kvavik, R. (2005). Convenience, Communications, and Control: How Students Use Technology. In D. G. Oblinger, Educating the Net Generation (pp. 7.1-7.20). Washington: EDUCAUSE.?

PCMag. (2015, January 28). Classification of Collaboration Technology: Introduction for Beginners. Retrieved from Collaboration-software.financesonline.com: https://collaboration-software.financesonline.com/classification-of-collaboration-technology-introduction-for-beginners/?