Working in a team to produce a report is a rewarding challenge. It requires clarity of ideas and an effective way to communicate those ideas to others to ensure everyone is clear of the direction. The collaborative process forces the draft/edit process to occur with many eyes ensuring adequate flow of ideas and staying within the framework of the report.
The group I worked with did just those things. After initially brainstorming, searching for literature and note taking using Google docs, our first “face-to-face” meeting involved in-depth discussions about the affordances of each LMS we could choose from. Our original idea was to do a comparative assessment of 2 different systems, but eventually settled on only Moodle. Using the screen sharing capabilities of Google hangouts, group members got to see 2 different active Moodle sites (mine and another group member’s) to compare how it could be used. This allowed for focused discussion about whether Moodle would be our choice for our organization. We then had a follow-up check-in meeting, but otherwise used the comments feature and color coded text (to distinguish between group members contributions) in our Google doc or communicated via email. The system worked quite well.
Flexibility and initiative are key in an online collaborative environment. My experience in the MET program, with this assignment being no exception, is that people are willing to volunteer. Everyone is keen to learn, to take on a new challenge and ensure they are contributing members to the group. Everyone in this group involved him or herself in the brainstorming, discussing, drafting and editing process and was willing to both give and receive constructive criticisms. Suggestions were made professionally and in the spirit of creating the best possible product. In addition, as someone living in Asia, several time zones away from North America, I am appreciative of people willing to be flexible in meeting times to make sure everyone can be included.
One of the biggest factors in determining group success is the “care” factor. Working with colleagues who care about the assignment, help you make your writing better, ask probing questions to help tease out deeper ideas, offer to help and respond to comments in a timely fashion are keys to successful group work. Everyone in the group I worked with all cared about this project and I learned a lot with them and from them.
Hi Stephen:
Using the screen share tool in Google Hangouts to show your own Moodle sites is such a good idea. Having he ability to see Moodle in action from group member would have been helpful. I concur with your experience of MET colleagues in a group situation. It makes such a difference when everyone is invested and involved.
We had some glitches with Hangouts, which was my first negative experience after 5 courses. Just getting connected took the better part of an hour for one of our sessions, and one of our members was not receiving comments notifications. When we really needed in the last few hours, the functionalities all works as they should.
The “care” factor makes all the difference. Now if I could just get my senior students to have a similar positive experience with collaboration. They need to be “re-programmed” for group work
Cheers,
Craig