4: collaborating (& community)

We all need to work with other people and this is an opportunity to explore how smart devices can enable you to work with individuals and groups in a number of versatile ways so that you can maximise engagement and effectiveness when collaborating.

Scenarios

You will find 2 scenarios below. Pick at least one of them to work with on this topic. Feel free to add further scenarios linked to this topic to this page as a comment and select the one that fits best with what you would like to explore. Identify if there are others you could work with on this. Remember that you could use the FISh model.

Student:

“This is a great unit I am doing now for my degree. The lecturer has put as in groups and we will be working together on mini projects. I love that idea of working and learning with others. My only problem is that I am not that much on campus as I have other commitments. So meeting everybody might be a problem… How can I make this work for me and my group? I really don’t want to let them down. I want to contribute and do this together with the rest of the group. Would they want to see me on the weekend? Could I really ask that? We could use email? Perhaps I should ask them.”

Teacher:

“I’d like to bring an international perspective to my teaching and would love to collaborate with another tutor teaching the same subject. I’ve heard about people using Skype and something called a hangout? Maybe I could set up collaborative projects with students from another institution. Would there be any value in doing something like this? I am also not sure where to start and how to make this happen, if I would decide to go ahead with this idea.”

intended learning outcomes (ilo)

By the end of this topic and if you fully engaged in all related activities, you will have had the opportunity to…
1. identify opportunities to collaborate with others for learning/teaching using smart devices

2. discuss at least one of the scenarios and identify how this/these links/link to your own practice

3. explore opportunities to develop a collaborative project using smart devices to support inclusive learning/teaching in and outside the classroom

Use the resources provided to deepen your understanding linked to this topic. Share resources you have found useful with the BYOD4L community.

We can achieve great things together? How can we make them happen? Something to think about in the context of this topic image by cc Chrissi Nerantzi http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5459/7181149916_e38bfbbbc5_z.jpg

Pick ‘n’ mix activities
Definitely do the first activity and at least 1 more! If you are learning within a group consider engaging in one of the below as a collaborative activity. Remember to share on Twitter using #byod4l

1. Reflecting: Share with others via Twitter how you have collaborated/could collaborate with others using a smart device for learning/teaching/development. (ilo-1)

2. Making: Create a response to one of the scenarios on your own or with others (especially since this about collaborating) based on the discoveries you made through investigating this. Remember to do some reading as well. Capture your findings in a format you have not used yet as part of this course and share. (ilo-2)

3. Development: Identity an app that could help you collaborate on a mini project with at least one more person during the day. Consider trying something with the Google docs/drive app. Ask for help if needed. Explain what you would like to achieve. Share your ideas via Twitter. Find (a) collaborator(s) and create something together that would be useful for you and/or others (ilo-3)