Collaborative Learning

Virtual collaboration: engaging learning through technology

"Virtual collaboration is a phrase that is both explanatory and confusing. In one company, virtual collaboration can be as simple as e-mail and document sharing. In another company, it can be the combined use of asynchronous tools-such as calendars, links and bulletin boards- with synchronous tools such as Web, audio or video conferencing." Tanya Goodwin-Maslach, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, June 2006

Added: 9 June 2006
Reviewer's Note:
Conclusion: "The companies that deploy learning through technology and create virtual collaboration opportunities to all employees, not just executives, will be the ones that achieve more goals faster."

Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of emergent collaboration

"There is is a new wave of business communication tools including blogs, wikis and group messaging software - which the author has dubbed, collectively, Enterprise 2.0 - that allow for more spontaneous, knowledge-based collaboration. These new tools, the author contends, may well supplant other communication and knowledge management systems with their superior ability to capture tacit knowledge, best practices and relevant experiences from throughout a company and make them readily available to more users." Andrew P McAfee, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2006

Added: 14 April 2006
Reviewer's Note:
You can purchase the full PDF for $6.50

Designing collaborative e-learning for results

"Because we can communicate by email and over the Web, we no longer need to meet face to face. The more connected we are, the more isolated we are. The connectivity/isolation paradox is manifesting itself in many aspects of our professional and personal lives and is a fundamental reason why e-learning programs can be unsatisfying to instructors and learners." Glen Mohr and Julia M Nault, Learning Circuits, June 2004

Added: 8 June 2004
Reviewer's Note:
"A program that The Otter Group adapted for CDM from a lunch seminar and then reengineered for synchronous online delivery, demonstrates strategies for building connection, interactivity, and relationships via online learning.

Collaborative learning environments sourcebook

"This book is a resource for academics and students who want to develop collaborative learning environments (or communities of practice) in whichpeople work together to create new knowledge while learning new skills." The Critical Methods Collective

Added: 24 February 2004
Reviewer's Note:
An excellent collection of materials on collaborative learning

We learning: social software and e-learning Part II

"Early e-learning traded technology for human interaction. Now, the personal element is being added back in. New social software tools borrowed from business and the younger generations combine tech and touch for the best of all possible worlds (including virtual ones). " Eva Kaplan-Leiserson, Learning Circuits, January 2004

Added: 7 February 2004
Reviewer's Note:
As Eva summarises "Social software tools are truly a revolution because of the way they combine technology with personal interaction. They're not just new applications; they usher in a new paradigm. "

Trends in collaboration

"Here is the presentation that kicked off the Collaborative Learning 04 conference. It's 25 minutes but you can pick and choose what you want to see. This is recorded in Macromedia Breeze." Jay Cross, Internet Time Group, 14 January 2004

Added: 24 January 2004
Reviewer's Note:
Excellent overview of collaboration - in Jay's easy-to-understand style.

We learning: social software and e-learning

"Early e-learning traded technology for human interaction. Now, the personal element is being added back in. New social software tools borrowed from business and the younger generations combine tech and touch for the best of all possible worlds (including virtual ones)." Eva Kaplan-Leiserson, Learning Circuits,15 December 2003

Added: 21 December 2003
Reviewer's Note:
This is part one of a two-part article

Collaborative learning environment sourcebook

"This is asourcebook foracademics and studentswho want to develop collaborative learning environments(or communities of practice) in which lecturers, students and others can work together to create new knowledge while learning new skills."

Added: 5 November 2003
Reviewer's Note:
Thecollaborative learning environments project was started in late 2002 by lecturers in the psychology department at the University of South Africa.

Creating collaboration

"How do you make online learning a collaborative experience? The answer sounds simple: find ways to bring participants together for social interaction or to solve a problem. Unfortunately, building collaborative exercises remains a major stumbling block for online instructional designers. The third article in this series outlines techniques to ensure that your online programs, both asynchronous and synchronous, are interactive." Jennifer Hofman, Learning Circuits, 22 September 2003

Added: 24 September 2003
Reviewer's Note:
Deals with both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration opportunities

Models of collaboration

"In this guest editorial we examine five models for collaboration that vary from barely interactive to intensely interactive. Granted the CS definition for collaboration requires some level of interaction by two or more people, and in the past we have said that reciprocal data access (such as you would find in a library or repository) is not collaboration, we have also said that technology, content and process are critical for any type of collaboration. This being the case we are expanding our definition of collaboration (slightly) to include content libraries as most of the vendors in this area have added collaborative functionality. In addition, content is often critical for a collaborate interaction to occur." Timothy Butler and David Coleman, Collaborative Strategies, September 2003

Added: 13 September 2003
Reviewer's Note:
"A framework for analyzing and designing collaborative systems can be built based on an understanding of the pure models and how they may be combined."

Using collaboration to your advantage in corporate online training

"Research shows the majority of corporations do not use collaboration as a regular part of training. This article gives four reasons why collaboration is the way the go." Coleen M Sallot, inkspotonline.com

Added: 10 August 2003
Reviewer's Note:
Conclusion - "By including collaboration in their training programs, corporations will be better able to assess the effectiveness of their training programs in terms of employee and customer satisfaction. And when you think about it, isn't that what training is for?"

Learning through asynchronous discussion

"Experiences from using a discussion board in a large undergraduate class in Hong Kong." Narasimha Bolloju, Dept of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong, and Robert Davison, Dept of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong, eLearn Magazine, July 2003

Added: 16 July 2003
Reviewer's Note:
The article states "Our suggestions and recommendations are based both on our own "instructor perspective" in designing and administrating the WebBoard tool in a number of courses, and on the "student perspective," as gleaned in feedback with respect to their motivation, extent of participation, role in using WebBoard, learning experiences, and overall satisfaction."

15 tips for remote collaboration

"It will always be easier to rally a group of people who work in the same building, but you can accomplish just as much (or more) with a motivated remote team. Getting team members motivated in the first place and holding their interest are your goals. Here are fifteen quick and useful tips to get you started." Indi Young, adaptive path, 6 May 2003

Added: 12 May 2003
Reviewer's Note:
Reviewer's Note:Indi's summary - "By using these techniques, you can overcome lack of interest, slow progress, and inability to visualize."

Teamrooms: Tapping the collaborative learning advantage

"Teamrooms as a class of Web collaboration tools are taking hold in corporations, but will they live up to their promise? This article deals with the change and adoption issues around teamrooms, covering such topics as usability, group behavior, corporate structures, leadership, and innovation. Several design and training considerations that support successful adoption of teamrooms are offered." Dori Digenti, eLearn Magazine

Added: 10 January 2003
Reviewer's Note:
Teamrooms = web collaboration spaces

Building communities - strategies for collaborative learning

"In a recent survey by the Masie Center, nearly 2000 learning professionals ranked online communities as one of the top three most important components of e-learning portals. But the term community remains ambiguous, and CLOs are unsure how to start building and integrating them into their organizations. Here's a model that describes a number of practical applications for including community as part of a learning plan and specific strategies for building learning-focused communities." Soren Kaplan, Learning Circuits, August 2002

Added: 20 August 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Types of learning communities and creating learning communities

Online Collaborative Learning in Higher Education

"This is a web site devoted to world's best practice in online collaborative learning in higher education, and related topics: here you'll find links to online articles, books, journals, and other relevant information." Online Collaborative Learning Project, Central Queensland University, Australia

Added: 26 July 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Online articles, journals etc about collaborative learning

Why aren't we collaborating

"Thanks to the Internet (and intranets and extranets), we can all just get along. But we're still not." David Weinberger, darwin Magazine, 2 July 2002

Added: 8 July 2002
Reviewer's Note:
This article speculates on the reasons why there is not more use of collaborative software

A portrait of success: Collaborative tools ease communication, build knowledge

"Many corporations are finding that collaborative technology tools enhance the processes that are essential to them--such as new product development, human resources functions and other tasks that are routinely performed in companies across all industries. They enhance communication within and outside the organization." Kim Ann Zimmerman, KM Magazine, April 2002

Added: 6 April 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Some examples of different types of collaboration tools and environments are discussed here

Employee collaboration on the upswing

"Eighty-four percent of 100 business-technology professionals say their company is in the process of improving collaborative practices with employees. Fifty-nine percent of respondents also say that they expect collaborative initiatives with employees to increase in the next 12 months. Those companies have good reason for taking these steps: Empowering people to be instruments of development and change benefits a company's bottom line."

Added: 2 March 2002
Reviewer's Note:
Collaboration is now being to be recognised as key within organisations

Group work areas: what learning activities do electronic groups support

A short 5 step-by-step approach to understanding electronic groups and how they can be used. Part of EdTech's Effective Use of Online Course Tools

Added: 17 November 2001
Reviewer's Note:
A quick and easy to use summary of discussion forums - simply and effectively produced

Collaborative e-learning: the right approach

"Despite all the recent activity, models for how people teach and learn online are still immature. A new approach could take care of the long-standing e-learning bugaboos: low enrollments and high attrition rates stemming from user dissatisfaction. The cause of this problem is the separation of people in time and space; but it can be overcome by building environments where people talk to one another, build relationships, and teach one another." DestinationCRM.com KM white paper, May 2001.

Added: May 2001
Reviewer's Note:

ConferZone

"Your portal to the e-conferencing world." Resources, articles, vendor listings re web, video and audio conferencing.

Added: May 2001
Reviewer's Note:

Adults@learning.net: a reflexive critique of cooperative networked learning

This paper looks at one future scenario for adult education: networked learning. David McConnell, University of Sheffield. Education-line, University of Leeds

Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:

Making space for informal learning

"A new challenge for e-learning is to create collaborative learning spaces in which informal learning can thrive." ASTD Learning Circuits, August 2000

Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note:

Reflective Collaborative Learning on the Web: Drawing on a Master Class

"We draw on the music master class as an established face-to-face pedagogical model as one that supports reflective, collaborative learning practices. We then illustrate how this model is being reinterpreted and extended within the context of online learning communities exploring the skills of user interface design." Karen Ruhleder and Michael Twidale, First Monday, Volume 5, Number 5 (May 2000)

Added: 2000
Reviewer's Note: