There are many ways that online collaboration helps students. Many students prefer to study in groups, but it is difficult if the group members are spread out all across the country or world. Online collaboration can bring everyone together for studying and also enjoying social interaction with others. Students have the ability to ask questions so they understand concepts better, or help each other understand big concepts that are difficult to grasp.
What is Student Collaboration?
Collaborative learning can happen amongst students or amongst the larger global community of learners. Peer learning, or student collaboration, is a type of learning that involves students working in small groups to examine concepts or find solutions to problems.
Like the saying goes two or three heads are better than one, research has determined that through peer-to-peer learning, students teach each other by clarifying concepts in an easily understandable language, discussing mistakes, addressing misconceptions, and innovating fresh ideas.
Benefits of Student Collaboration:
Student learning experiences that are dynamic, social, engaging, and student-led results in deeper learning. The benefits of student collaborative learning include:
- Better student preparation for social and employment situations
- Improved development of higher-order thinking, communication, and leadership skills
- Greater student-faculty cooperation and synergy
- Increased student self-esteem and perseverance
- Wider understanding from a variety of diverse viewpoints
Collaborative Online Learning Activities: What Does The Research Say About Them?
Learning within the online environment, often termed as “eLearning”, differs from the traditional classroom learning community. Unlike traditional classroom learning opportunities, online learning environments foster additional learning experiences where learners can interact, collaborate, and take ownership of their own learning. Developing effective collaborative online activities begins with understanding the research and how learners process information when online. Educators of online learning environments must focus on instructional and pedagogical best practices in order to deliver effective online instruction.
Theoretical Frameworks
Behaviorism, cognitivism, connectivism, and constructivism are the most common learning theories utilized when developing online learning environments.
Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively engages in new ideas through collaborative grouping situations. Given the context of eLearning, constructivism and connectivism seem to be the theories that acknowledge the impact technology has on learning the most. Constructivism is a good theoretical framework for eLearning because it ensures learning happens among all learners.
However, connectivism is a fairly new learning theory that should also be considered because it blends together cognitivism and constructivism theories of learning and is the process that occurs within a constantly changing learning environment. This type of learning environment cannot be controlled by the learner.
Connectivist learning environments are constantly changing in large part because technology and web-based applications are always improving and evolving. The understanding that learning is based on rapidly altering technology and new information encourages learners to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information.
Connectivism focuses on helping the learner make connections with content and through interactions with others. These connections enable learners to learn more and prove to be the most important process of learning.
Online Learning Activities
The inclusion of collaborative activities in an online course leads to positive student performance outcomes. Collaborative group interactions facilitate active learning, shared knowledge, and promote social interaction and a supportive eLearning community. Collaboration also models how to work with others in real-world situations. These collaborative activities help train learners for the 21st-century workplace, including learning how to share ideas, express opinions, and manage time. While the outcomes associated with collaborative activities are mostly positive, there are benefits and challenges to implementing these activities into an eLearning course.
Collaborative Group Activities
Group activities range from informal discussions to highly structured collaborative grouping activities. Collaborative group learning is one way for learners to establish communication with others in the course. Research and practitioners of online learning environments largely support the benefits of true collaboration through discussions and sharing of new information.
A successful collaborative group activity allows learners to feel a sense of community and provides learners with an active role and responsibility, which is shared among his or her established groups. Online learners in well-designed learning environments experience meaningful learning, develop higher order thinking, and begin to develop an eLearning community where collaborative group activities are encouraged.
Research supports a number of benefits to collaborative online group activities such as modeling group norms and posting expectations. Collaborative group activities should be group -entered to begin forming a collaborative online sense of community support. This can be easily achieved through introductory activities that require learners to get to know one another. Therefore, later, more complex collaborative activities can be presented to learners without them feeling overwhelmed or anxious because the collaborative community support has already been established.
However, developing guidelines that govern these activities can be difficult without taking an instructor-centered approach to learning. Establishing collaborative groups within the online learning environment can be a difficult task for instructors of online learners.
One strategy to address this challenge might be to divide students into small groups of 2 or 3. Dividing students into smaller, more intimate groupings can create opportunities for collaboration and address the more reserved student learner. Additionally, creating collaborative groupings in this way encourages learners to become active participants in the collaborative learning process.
Group Discussions
When learners engage in discussions with other learners instead of just the instructor, the opportunities for knowledge retention is great. The use of online discussion activities within online learning continues to grow. A number of researchers have conducted investigations into online collaborative discussion groups, focusing on the ways in which discussion activities move learners from learner to expert. It is important to provide learners with opportunities to reflect and share viewpoints; this can be done through collaborative online discussion activities.
In collaborative group discussions, learners learn to listen attentively to each other and value the efforts of shared knowledge and input. Online discussion technology also helps learners respond to questions, participate, and offer peer feedback to support the sharing of new information. Successful discussion groups include learners who are actively engaged in accountable and responsible talk. Accountable talk between learners emphasizes logical connections and allows learners to draw reasonable conclusions to new information. Learning through collaborative online discussion groups is reciprocal and the most direct way for instructors to assess learning online.
Online discussions require instructors to moderate the discussion activities and this requires time. In a primarily asynchronous learning environment, this can be tedious and time-consuming for instructors. The development of collaborative online discussions requires instructors to include sufficient time for learner discourse and moderation. To ensure learner success, instructors must actively work to ensure discussions are engaging and lead learners to high-quality learning outcomes.
The challenge for online instructors becomes how to construct a collaborative discussion activity, which is engaging and meets the needs of all learners. A way this can be addressed is for instructors to develop discussions that are specifically focused on 1 or 2 specific learning goals.
Feedback And Assessment Activities
Research overwhelmingly supports that online peer assessments can support a student-centered approach when assessments are implemented through collaborative peer-to-peer communication, active participation, and interactivities. The ability to provide constructive feedback helps learners to process new information, which is not a naturally acquired skill in eLearning. Learners who participate in collaborative assessments and peer-to-peer feedback activities are better prepared for real-world situations. Lastly, it is important for online instructors to view assessments as a process for learning as well as an assessment of learning.
As mentioned previously, the planning and design of collaborative activities are critical in supporting effective interactions. One benefit of assessment and feedback activities is learner motivation, which is fostered within learners by engaging them in real-world assessment situations. Another benefit of collaborative activities is that they encourage learners to use external evaluations to provide internal self-assessments of their own learning.
Additionally, by sharing assessments and allowing learners to provide peer-to-peer feedback creates transparent learning environments and supports developing skills within a growing learning community. Another benefit to allowing learners to provide each other with constructive feedback facilitates two-way learning; once when the learner participates in the assessment and, again, when the learner provides peer feedback.
Planning for collaborative learning requires a different approach to pedagogy and learning. Instructors should take advantage of the technology and tools available, continuously monitor student interactions, and manage time wisely to overcome these challenges. Feedback and assessment activities require instructors to understand assessment processes and the factors that influence these collaborative online activities. This can pose a challenge to instructors who do not have the training needed to design and facilitate these activities within an eLearning environment. One way to overcome this challenge is for online instructors to develop and share best practices that facilitate feedback and assessment activities.
List of Student Collaboration Tools for the Online Classroom
Great student collaboration tools enable students to be creative, work together on projects, learn from each other, and receive feedback from teachers. Below we have painstakingly reviewed some student collaboration tools for a variety of interesting uses.
1. Bit.ai – Document Collaboration Tool
The first student collaboration tool on our list is Bit.ai – the best document collaboration platform. Bit.ai has been built for teams and individuals to create content, collaborate on projects, and organize all their lessons in one place. Educators can create a wide variety of documents such as lesson plans, dynamic notes, wikis, knowledge bases, projects, assignments, presentations while integrating across numerous other apps.
An educator can create different virtual classrooms through ‘workspaces‘ and add students to different classes. Users can create live interactive documents by adding visual web links, images, presentations, music, videos, equations, designs, social media posts, surveys, file attachments, and more. Educational resources can be easily shared, interlinked with other live documents, and students can work on assignments together in real-time. Students can chat and learn collaboratively with the context within a document.
Teachers can evaluate assignments, provide comments, and feedback individually to students. Using document tracking capabilities, teachers can also get feedback on how students interacted with the learning material, how much time they spent on it, and which areas interested them the most. Bit.ai integrates with 100+ apps enabling everyone to go beyond just text or images and unleash their creativity.
Read more: Learning Objectives: What, Why & How to Write?
2. Kahoot – Game-based Student Learning & Collaboration Tool
Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform, used to play quiz-based learning, facilitate discussions, and create surveys in educational institutions. Its learning games are called “Kahoots“, can be played directly via a web browser or the Kahoot app. A teacher can introduce new concepts and have students take user-generated multiple-choice quizzes. If educators don’t want to make a quiz, they can search through millions of public Kahoots to play or remix.
A great feature is the ability to import or create slides and combine them with various question types in one seamless interactive lesson. Educators can host games live via videoconferencing or send self-paced games to students to facilitate distance learning – this makes it a fantastic student collaboration tool. Educators can assess class learning progress and formative assessments can be conducted by using analytics from game reports.
3. Flipgrid – Video-based Student Collaboration Tool
An amazing resource from Microsoft is Flipgrid, a video learning platform that is 100% free for educators and learners. Educators create a ‘grids‘ which are meeting places for learners, they can then add a topic for discussion. Learners respond with short videos that could include uploaded photos and videos, trimmed clips, whiteboards, video styles, text, emoji, inking, etc. to express their points of view.
Educators can also allow learners to record replies to classmates’ responses. This makes for inclusive and interactive learning with all members responding with their own short-Insta Stories style videos. Videos responses are short from 15 sec to 5 mins and can be set as per the topic created.
As an educator, you would have access to their ready resources, age- and subject-specific topics from other educators around the world. One of the main things going for Flipgrid is its ease of use, from kindergartens to college grads, all can easily get started. The tool is versatile and enables learners to articulate ideas with well-planned responses without feeling “on the spot” in the classroom. Flipgrid is an engaging way for educators to foster discussion and collaboration in a space that has the familiarity of social media minus the ads.
Read more: Collaborative Teaching: What is it & How to Do it the Right Way?
4. Quizlet – Quiz-based Student Learning Tool
A widely popular and well-loved student collaboration tool is next – Quizlet. Quizlet is an interactive quiz tool, that helps students memorize facts in a fun way. It utilizes user-generated sets of terms and descriptions and enables learning through quizzes – flashcards for individual learning or competitive games for classroom learning.
With access to millions of question sets, learners can practice on any topic, though the most popular are languages. Using Quizlet’s available study sets, different study modes, and in-class games, educators can instantly create an engaged classroom. Educators can also create their own custom flashcard sets for Quizlet Live competitions to be held in a virtual classroom.
Quizlet is best for subjects that require rote learning. One of its features called Quizlet Live is a great way to introduce new content as it requires students to collaborate with their teams to research, and pool their knowledge to select the right answer, as they play the game.
Read more: 9 Awesome Assignment Writing Tips to Get Better Marks!
5. Parlay – Student Discussion & Collaboration Tool
Parlay is a great student collaboration tool for round table discussions to get students to a higher order level in thinking. It’s a complete discussion platform that allows learners to interact with their educators and each other, both virtually and in person. An educator can lead the discussion by starting a RoundTable topic, learners then write a response, incorporate peer feedback, and participate in in-depth discussions.
The content within the RoundTable topic can be multimedia or text-based and can be edited or supplemented with educators’ own material. Learners can also have a “live” discussion, where they sit in a Socratic circle with their devices and respond in a discussion
Parlay provides a good structure for productive class discussion and dialogue. It allows educators to design the RoundTable as per their requirements so you can use it to emphasize key concepts, or as a summative assessment to evaluate learning. Parlay includes an assessment tool that uses analytics on both quantity and quality of student participation and provides suggested feedback to learners.
6. Padlet – Student Collaborative Bulletin Board
Padlet is the next wonderful student collaboration tool that is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. It allows learners to collect information from the internet and pin it onto virtual bulletin boards. Lika a wall full of Post-it notes you can add text, links, images, videos — basically anything — can be added to a board and organized.
Learners can also upload documents they’ve own resources, like class notes or completed assignments. Padlet encourages collaboration and is an effective way for students to learn on their own at their own pace. It is a great research tool with each student bringing their resources and perspectives on a topic.
Padlet is a quick and easy way to enable learners to interact with each other. Boards are a great way to break a class into smaller study groups, to facilitate a class project, or enable further private learning. Educators can use it as a form of formative assessment to track students’ understanding of a concept. It is well suited for subjects that have creativity or research components.
7. Drawp Unlimited – Collaborative Brainstorming Tool
Next on the list of best student collaboration tools we have, Drawp Unlimited that is a student creative collaboration app to create drawings and assignments. Teachers can create assignments to work on and students can work independently or with a peer to create original drawings.
Drawp has many creation tools such as paintbrush, photos, audio, sticky notes, text, clip art, etc. Learners can share their pictures with the educator and other classmates, who can comment to provide feedback. Educators can also utilize the resource marketplace to collaborate on lesson plans and other resources. Teachers can use Drawp to promote group brainstorming and teamwork.
Drawp is better suited to younger students who will enjoy the collaborative and free-form drawing aspect. Teachers can upload a worksheet or use a premade graphic organizer or even create reports on a variety of topics. It can be used to brainstorm digitally and even make collaborative presentations by using pictures to create a slide show.
8. Edmodo – Student Social Media Collaboration Tool
Edmodo is a social media-like student collaboration tool that can be used in an educational environment. Teachers can create a classroom where students and teachers can post and add comments. Teachers can post a discussion question, and students can respond with their comments, or a teacher can start a poll or discussion question, even assignments can be posted. Edmodo contains a searchable repository of lessons that teachers can use.
Teachers can assign projects or assessments, and students can submit their work within the platform. You can also give a quiz which could be either formative or summative assessment. These grades can then be shared with parents too who also have access to the platform. Students enjoy Edmodo because of its social media feel, rest assured it is an educational tool.
9. Google Classroom – Classroom Organization Tool
No student collaboration tool list could be complete without Google Classroom. This is primarily because firstly it’s free and secondly most learners are familiar with their existing email, sheets, and presentation tools – all of which can be easily integrated.
Teachers can create a Google Classroom for any course and invite all the students, the integrated Google Drive can contain all important links, lessons, presentations, images, videos, and more. Students can easily collaborate in real-time using Google’s free apps, such as Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. Teachers can set up assignments and note submissions, they can also add in comments while students are working.
Google Classroom makes group projects easier to manage — both for teachers and the students — because it allows students to work from any device as per their convenience. Google Classroom also integrates with numerous other apps for additional functionality and variety in the learning process.
10. Classcraft – Gamified Learning Platform
Classcraft has got to be my favorite learning apps as you can gamify your class! Classcraft is generally a classroom management platform that engages students through gamified lessons. It’s carved out a niche for itself as an engagement management system (EMS).
Students can create characters for themselves and they either power up or lose health points based on how they’re doing in class. As students are in teams, if a student does poorly, the whole team suffers, so students truly come together and collaborate to learn.
An educator can create quests that weave lesson objectives into an exciting adventure story where students can move at their own pace and participate in challenges to earn rewards for their virtual avatars. Classcraft is an incredible student collaboration tool to reinforce positive behavior while students build knowledge and strengthen communication.
Conclusion
Online collaboration is the most important issue in education in my opinion. Almost all of us communicate with other people in some way, collaborative or not. Most of the time, it’s through conversation. And when conversation happens, you start sharing feelings and thoughts. That is the best feeling there is! The act of producing something together with other people makes you understand them better .