Collaboration Tools

Collaboration is a process defined by the recursive interaction of knowledge and mutual learning between two or more people who are working together, in an intellectual endeavor, toward a common goal which is typically creative in nature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration

The main idea behind collaboration is of working together; sharing of planning, making decisions, solving problems, setting goals, assuming responsibility, working together cooperatively, communicating, and coordinating openly (Baggs & Schmitt, 1988). http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/499266_2

Collaborative process involves Team Creation, Idea Generation, Decision-Making, Work or Production and Evaluation or Recap.

The team may involve Small number of people – less than 10. The members must have complementary skills with common purposes for working. The team should share one working approach and be Mutual accountable.
• Group Formation
– Yahoo groups
– Google Groups
• CMSs, LMSs, etc.
• Social Networks
– Friendster, LinkedIn, Orkut, MySpace, Facebook, etc.
• Network Formation
– Ning, Elgg

The idea generation can be carried out through:
• Role plays
• Brainstorming Tools - http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-web20-apps-to-help-you-learn
• Research and Tracking – del.icio.us and RSS readers http://www.del.icio.us
• Concept mapping / mind mapping http://bubbl.us/ http://www.flowchart.com http://www.gliffy.com
• Storyboarding – web comics http://www.sacredcowdung.com/archives/2006/03/all_things_web.html http://www.mainada.net/comics/
http://www.quicktoons.com


The decision making could be:
• Autocratic
• Hand-clasping and cliques
• Consensus
• Deliberative Processes
• Polling
• Voting (voting mechanisms) etc.

The work or production is
• Functions: execution, tracking, time lining and optimizing…
• Separate roles and responsibilities – individual work
• Iterative (eg. Word Update)
http://docs.google.com


Evaluation is
• Tabulation of expectations and results
• Surveying, polling
• Scoring and measurement against objective standards
• Story-telling, lessons learned
• Collection of best practices.