Working with groups always seems to be a stressful situation. Will all the group members put the same amount of work into the project? Will all the group members get along? And that final most important question, when will we all find time to get together to work on the project? In recent years the innovation of collaboration technology has made classroom group work so much easier. The question of when will we all find time to get together to work on the project, quickly becomes less important. Group assignments can now be completed with none to very little face to face meetings.
In today’s current technological world there are many collaboration tools that are available for use. These collaboration technologies include but are not limited to Google Docs, Wikispaces and Facebook. These three types of different collaboration tools allow groups to work together, without really being together. For instance Google Docs allows member of groups to review and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and forms. Instead of all group members having to do this in one meeting when everyone is struggling to be heard, group members can get on when they have the time and give full feedback on the project. Wikispaces is much like Google Docs. Wikispaces provides a space for your group to collaborate together creating the best product possible. One nice feature Wikispaces has that is not found with Google Docs is that is tracks every revision. Thus, allowing the group to see how the current product differs from the revised one. The most popular collaboration technology could arguably be Facebook. With almost all students in the classroom having an account it is easy to create a group where documents can be shared, comments can be posted and questions can be asked.
The stress of classroom group work is decreased through these collaboration technologies. Busy group members do not have to feel like they are not going to be able to do their part in the group project, because they can never find the time to meet. These collaboration technologies balance the playing field and allow all group members to give their input and feedback on the project. Collaboration technologies are greatly beneficial to the classroom group work assignments.
Sources:
http://www.wikispaces.com/
https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=1209600&continue=http://docs.google.com/&followup=http://docs.google.com/<mpl=homepage
