Lessons learned
In order for a course-based virtual collaboration experience to be effective in
helping students develop skills for future virtual endeavors, it is important for
experiences to be structured in a way to allow students to experiment without
severe penalties. We found that many students were deterred in trying to work
out problems because they were concerned about the grade that they would
receive. Therefore, it is important to ensure that a project is worth enough credit in
the course to commit students to the project, but not too much so that the students
are overly focused on the final grade.
It would also be beneficial to spend more time demonstrating how to use the
technology. As we have noted here, students do not necessarily have the technical skills
we may expect. Further, even if they can figure out the technology, they do not know
how to use that technology to collaborate (Abbitt, 2010). Despite the student-developed
tutorial and the in-class demonstration of the Zoho technology, some participants
struggled with the technology interface. In future endeavors it would be advisable to
periodically access the web site during class time to insure that students are utilizing
all available features effectively. Further, time spent modeling collaborative processes
would help students get on the right track in working together.
Finally, we suggest providing students with a longer timeframe to work on a project
as well as some guidance on team development strategies.We provided six weeks, and
while this is a realistic timeframe for an organizational project, we feel that more time
is needed while students learn to navigate virtual collaboration processes. A longer
timeframe takes some stress off the students because it gives them some time to
experiment and make some initial mistakes. Providing guidance on team development,
“ice-breaker” activities to allow students to get to know each other, and encouraging
questioning and off-task interaction can help teams develop a social presence and build
cohesive teams that accomplish their goals (Tutty and Klein, 2008).