Foster class teamwork with online collaboration
Forget the coffee shop — meet in a virtual study space
By Catherine Wood
Mention group work to Amber LeBrun and the journalism undergrad rolls her eyes. “Even after setting up a meeting time and place, it often doesn’t happen because people don’t show up or cancel at the last minute,” she says.
Enter the virtual study space: get your class group online to exchange ideas, work, notes and videos from anywhere at any time with a web-ready PC or mobile device.
Take your studies online
“Students are using online tools more and more often,” says Vivek Venkatesh, assistant professor of educational technology at Concordia University in Montreal. He sees his pupils using social networking sites to discuss topics and post pertinent information in dedicated online conferences.
“One huge difference between face-to-face and online [communication] is people tend to become less inhibited,” says Mia Lobel, co-founder of LearningByDoing, Inc., an online educational environment.
That freedom translates into a faster rate of information exchange. Studies by LearningByDoing have shown that spoken information is limited to about 150 words per minute. Conversely, when people are online — looking at texts and graphics and typing their thoughts — words can be exchanged at almost 300 words per minute.
Keep in mind that working in a virtual study space won’t guarantee good grades. Quality of work and meeting deadlines are still up to you. But you will have improved access to group discussions, be able to keep better track of the work at hand, and more easily swap and collate individual sections.
Start the conversation
Whether you’re a group of four or 50, members need to be clear on the task, says Lobel. “They need to communicate, share facts and have efficient decision-making processes.”
Venkatesh agrees. He encourages online brainstorming because it gets ideas flowing and everything is archived and retrievable.
To get your group discussion started — at any time of the day or night — head to Windows Live Messenger to:
- instantly schedule online meeting times that work for everyone
- share applications, video and photos
- throw around ideas using the whiteboard, a virtual drawing board where anyone can write, sketch or edit using virtual pens and erasers.
Set your plan in motion
Plot your group’s course and share links using Windows Live Spaces. Think of the Spaces page as your study group’s home base, where you can:
- create a custom page dedicated to your project under the Events tab
- blog about the project — a first entry could include a list of members’ contact information and project schedule
- keep on top of a project by creating “lists” for tasks, books to read, sites to visit, etc.
- track where everyone is in their work using the discussion boards
- sync schedules with your Outlook calendars.
Just make sure you know your school’s policies on student collaboration. At Ryerson University in Toronto, a first-year student landed in hot water for acting as administrator of a Facebook chemistry study group. The 18-year-old was threatened with expulsion but, in the end, a disciplinary committee cleared him of cheating and he received a passing grade, although he received zero for the assignments discussed.
Share your part of the project
Windows Live SkyDrive is your own secure cyber-locker with 5GB of personal storage space that can be accessed from any computer with Internet access. No more burning CDs or carrying around memory sticks. Use SkyDrive to:
- create a special folder for your project documents
- save and post documents — especially useful for a PowerPoint presentation that is too large for the average inbox
- give group members read-only or editing privileges and get feedback
- keep backups and collate all your work.
LeBrun has yet to explore the latest technology to help with her schoolwork but she and group mates do rely on the tried and true. “E-mail is often used to recap what’s been done in a group or just to have something in writing,” she says. Using SkyDrive’s comments section for discussion would easily cut down on those long e-mail threads and reduce inbox clutter.
Keep in mind that online study groups aren’t immune to the challenges of face-to-face meetings. Personalities can still clash and not everyone pulls their own weight (see Tips for building a successful group). But at least technology can help keep your group connected and the work flowing — even when everyone is off doing their own thing.
