Online Collaborative Tools: Fostering Engaging Group Learning In Virtual Environments
Collaborative and entertaining activities can be found in online learning platforms. Effective collaborative activity design enhances learning, promotes critical thinking, and strengthens community and connection.
Creating Cooperative Activities:
When creating collaborative activities for online learning environments, intention is crucial. It is essential to ensure that an activity’s aim is obvious and to offer the required coaching and support. The sections that follow list a few things to think about when introducing collaboration into the design of an online course.
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Be Specific And Unambiguous:
Create cooperative activities with a goal in mind. If there is a clear and pertinent cause for the collaboration, learner “buy in” will be substantially higher. Making clear linkages between tasks and the bigger learning objectives is essential because many students lead busy lives and have little free time. Make sure the justification for why the collaborative activity will be useful to students’ learning is clear.
Think About Group Dynamics And Size:
Even in the best of circumstances, working in groups can be difficult, so it’s crucial to think about groupings and set fair expectations. In online learning environments, it may be more challenging for students to work together, especially if synchronous contacts like video conferencing are required. It can be not easy to organize time for meetings because students may have varied schedules and priorities. Maintain small group sizes to consider this and make it easier for students to interact and communicate.
Select Tools That Are Simple To Use And Accessible.
Students need to be conversant with the programmes or tools needed to perform activities. As a result, students will find it easier to use the tools, generate work of a higher calibre, and ultimately feel happier with the learning process. Choose tools that are free, well-known, and simple to use wherever possible. Make sure students receive adequate instruction and support if the activity needs them to use a novel or unfamiliar tool.
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Provide Direction:
As with any project, it’s critical to provide students with enough direction so they can produce excellent work. Clear and comprehensive instructions are required for this. For instance, details on the quantity, caliber, and level of learner participation should be offered. Additionally, in order to ensure that everyone in a learning group is aware of their responsibilities, some collaborative activities may call for learners to assume particular roles or responsibilities. A more pleasurable and productive learning environment will result from all learners having a clear understanding of expectations.
Brightspace Collaboration Tools
An overview of some of the Brightspace tools that support and promote collaborative learning is given in this section.
Discussions
Discussions are a fantastic tool for collaboration when they are planned carefully. The interchange of ideas, the sharing of work, and the development of concepts are all made possible through interaction with teachers and fellow students. The Discussions Tool empowers students with various learning preferences by allowing them to share text and audio/video comments. When starting a debate, it’s crucial to give specific instructions regarding the expected length and purposes of posts. The need for students to reply to one another fosters a collaborative learning environment.
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Activity Stream
Additionally, educators can contribute content, concepts, and thoughts via Activity Feed. Students can interact with peers and professors by leaving comments on the posts. Students can quickly and easily interact with others and work together on themes and assignments thanks to the activity feed’s flow of ideas and information.
Groups
Brightspace’s Groups feature enables learners to organize themselves into sections for collaboration, sharing during conversations, and working on group projects. Groups can be connected to discussion boards, lockers, and assignment folders for storing and sharing documents. Because groups share workspaces and have access to the same content, the Groups feature on Brightspace is special in that it facilitates collaboration.
Video Assignments For Bongo
With the help of the partner product Bongo, which is integrated into Brightspace, educators may quickly set up simultaneous Virtual Classroom sessions or produce Video Assignments. With Bongo’s premium version, instructors can design group assignments and make use of tools like group synchronous meeting creation and chat, milestones that keep team members on schedule, and group member review, which gives students a chance to give feedback to their teammates.
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Conclusion:
Any learning environment, including online learning settings, should emphasize collaboration. Meaningful learning experiences can be had through collaborative learning, which also fosters community building and idea exchange. To support and build collaborative and interesting learning experiences, a wealth of tools are accessible both online and within the Tribetopper platform. All students will gain when these tools are thoughtfully and intentionally incorporated into online lessons.
