Collaboration

What is online collaboration? Why is it important? How do we achieve it? These questions have been raised in Creating Collaboration where the goal of online collaboration is identified as:

When collaborating online, using asynchronous and synchronous online tools, participant groups should be able to get results (solve problems, create project plans, design projects, and so forth) that are better than the results they would have gotten working individually.

Online Collaborative Learning Communities: 21 designs to building an online collaborative learning community distinguishes between collaboration and cooperation and also provides a theoretical framework of interactivity, social context, and technologies.

Why collaborate? Collaboration encourages participant engagement and also supports learning outcomes which may include skills such as project management, team building, problem solving and interpersonal skills.

Three levels of collaboration identified in the Amherst Wilder Foundation’s Collaboration Handbook are cooperation, coordination, and true collaboration including both asynchronous and synchronous cooperation and coordination.

Collaborative Strategies examines the various models for collaboration, including community of practice.

Online Collaborative Learning Communities: 21 designs to building an online collaborative learning community incorporates the following designs to build an online collaborative learning community:

Further Resources and Tools .

Indicates book is available for reference within Online Learning, CLPD.