These days technology makes it possible to work together through laptops, smartphones and tablets. But which technology tool is the best one for the job? This article discusses different tools that can be used for collaboration.
Tools that exist to support collaboration can:
- facilitate real-time and asynchronous text, voice, and video communication.
- assist in basic project management activities.
- support co-creation by enabling groups to modify output in real-time or asynchronously.
- facilitate consensus building through group discussions and polling.
- simplify and streamline resource management.
- enable local and remote presentation and archiving of completed projects.
Communication
Many features of collaboration tools are geared toward the facilitation and management of effective communication among team members. Carnegie Mellon centrally-supports tools designed for handling many of the following functions:
- Virtual Meetings
- Instant Messaging
- Screen Sharing
- Blogs
- Voice, Video, Web Conferencing
- Discussion Boards
Team Definition & Participants
Tools in this category are designed to help team members identify key players in a project, and draw on the appropriate “people resources” at the appropriate time. They also allow participants to manage their availability for various types of interaction (e.g., text chat or video conferencing). Carnegie Mellon centrally supports technology which handles some of this functionality, and we can help you identify tools designed for handling the following functions:
- Social Networking
- Presence Management
- User Profiles
- Contact Management
Project Management
Project management tools are geared toward handling the logistical aspects of planning, scheduling, workflow, and task management. Carnegie Mellon provides tools designed for handling many of the following functions:
- Task Management
- Time Tracking
- Workflow Routing
- Milestones
- Calendaring
Resource Management
Resource management tools help address common issues, like having access to a shared storage space for project files, and keeping up with multiple versions of the same document. We can help you find tools that have the following features:
- File Storage
- Search
- Database Management
- Version Tracking
- Access Management
- Social Bookmarking
- Commenting
- Tagging
Co-Creation & Ideation
Co-creation and ideation tools facilitate the most direct interaction between team members on the goals or desired outcomes of the project. Participants can often work in groups directly editing or building the project artifact using tools with the following features and support functionality:
- Concept Mapping
- Wikis
- Virtual Whiteboards
- Real-Time Collaborative Editing
Consensus Building
While co-creation and ideation tools help generate possible alternative solutions to a given problem, consensus-building tools help participants narrow and refine the proposed solutions. We can help to identify tools that support the following functions:
- Polling
- Question Management
- Process Archiving
Presentation & Archiving
These tools allow the project team to present outcomes to the instructor, to a project client, or to the general public. We can help you find tools designed to handle the following:
- Webinars
- Slide Shows
- Hosted Media Sharing
Here are some of our favorite tech tools for facilitating collaboration and fueling innovation in the classroom:
1. Google Apps for Education
The Google Drive apps enable students and teachers to collaborate more effectively on papers, spreadsheets, and presentations. The beauty of the Google Suite for Education is: several people can contribute simultaneously, so it’s truly designed for collaboration. There is a limit of 50 simultaneous collaborators for Google Docs and Sheets, so there’s space for an entire class. There is a limit of 200 total viewers and editors in Google Docs and Sheets.
Another great feature of Google Apps is that they automatically save your work, so students’ work will never be lost. There’s also never a need to keep several iterations of a document because the revision history feature allows you to revert to previous versions of the document (to find revision history: go to the File menu and select “See revision history”).
2. Kahoot:
Kahoot is a game-based classroom response system that gives educators an engaging way to test the knowledge of their students. Teachers and educators LOVE Kahoot…and we even use it at our GoGuardian team meetings and Harry Potter trivia contests (yes we are that nerdy). Kahoot can be used to boost collaboration through encouraging students to be the leaders and “quiz-makers”: to research, create, and present their own quizzes to the class.
3. FlipGrid:
FlipGrid is a video discussion community for your classroom that uses student voices to promote collaboration, discussion, and engagement. With FlipGrid, you can type a question and create a link for a “grid”. Students respond to the question in video format (kids get to be the “talking heads”) and are added to the “grid” of all the responses. FlipGrid is a great way to build the communicational skills of your students, while facilitating collaboration.
4. MindMeister:
MindMeister is a collaborative web-based tool that enables groups to brainstorm on one “mind map” document during the early phases of group work. Students can continue to use the document for collaborating during the course of a project. MindMeister teaches students to work as a team to manage and plan projects effectively, and to break complex tasks down into smaller, more manageable parts.
5. Google Hangouts:
Google Hangouts is a great way to bring remote groups of students together to communicate and collaborate. With Google Hangouts, inviting a guest speaker into the classroom has never been easier ….Google Hangouts enables anyone from around the world to “visit” a school. You can also use Hangouts on Air to record video, so you can record the day’s class and post a link to it on your class’ website for students that were absent. Google Hangouts is also a great vehicle for connecting and collaborating with other classrooms…within your own school or across the globe!
Communicate with your team
People can’t collaborate if they don’t communicate. From instant messaging to video conferencing tools (the best alternative to face-to-face meetings), there are many options for team collaboration tools:
1. Flowdock
Flowdock is a group and private chat platform. Its most interesting feature is its team inbox which aggregates notifications from other channels, like Twitter, Asana and customer support tools.
2. GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is an online video conferencing software that allows users to schedule meetings and share screens. It’s one of the most popular video tools with millions of users.
3. Slack
Slack is a popular and well-crafted platform offering instant messaging, file transfers and powerful message search. It has many features and dozens of integrations with other tools like Trello and Intercom.
4. WebEx
Cisco’s WebEx provides personalized video meeting rooms where users can to host and join meetings. People can use WebEx for team collaboration, webinars, training and customer support.
Conclusion
Technology may be changing the way we interact with each other, but it hasn’t changed collaboration. You still need to understand your team’s preferences, styles, and work styles. That said, there are some tweaks you can make to your technology that can improve how you collaborate both inside of the office and out.