Producing and managing group projects at a distance is a prevalent practice, not only in business, but also in education, particularly in online programs, training, and workshops. As online courses, programs, and training proliferate, it is important for online students to be aware of tools that can help them manage working in groups at a distance, no matter how many miles might separate team members from their peers, or how many hours their resident time zones might differ. Although many online instructors are already building in activities to capitalize on various collaboration tools available within the platform or course/management system they might use to deliver instruction, there are many other tools that students might consider using not only to create and track their individual and group efforts, but also to communicate more effectively. This article shares several communication, collaboration, and project management tools that online students might wish to use to help them produce and manage their team projects at a distance. Clearly, there are many other tools that exist in each of these categories; one can conduct an online search to find more. And, as apps continue to grow for both the Android and iPhone/iPad markets, the number of tools available will only grow.
Communication Tools
Effective and timely communication is key to the success of any group project. Asynchronous communication such as e-mail often works very effectively in online environments. However, occasionally, synchronous communication is needed. Many course/learning management systems have chat tools that may be activated by the course instructors, but other synchronous tools exist. The following tools provide team members the opportunity to have synchronous communications, and in some cases, to record them to review again later. Moreover, some such as Anymeeting and Vyew, also allow members to discuss and critique a draft presentation or product they have created.
Anymeeting: http://www.anymeeting.com/
GoToMeeting: http://www.gotomeeting.com/fec/
Mikogo: http://www.mikogo.com/
Skype: http://www.skype.com/
Vyew: http://vyew.com/
Yugma: https://www.yugma.com/
Collaboration Tools
Teams that work at a distance often need to brainstorm ideas, produce outlines, and drafts of their work, including final products. Some tools, such as Google docs and wikis, allow different members to contribute to the same document or tool simultaneously, while also saving the changes made by individual members. Not only do these tools keep track of individual efforts and drafts, but they also serve as a “home base” for housing important group documents eliminating the need to transfer files back and forth via e-mail or some other tool. Below are several collaboration and sharing tools that teams might wish to use:
ConceptShare: http://www.conceptshare.com/—markup images, photos, videos
Delicious: http://www.delicious.com/—share bookmarks
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/—share photos
Google docs: http://www.docs.google.com/—share and cocreate documents
PbWorks: http://pbworks.com/—wiki
SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/—share slides in PowerPoint and other formats
Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/—wiki
Wridea: http://wridea.com/—brainstorming and “idea management”
Zoho (collaboration applications): http://www.zoho.com/—offers a “suite” of collaboration tools
Project Management Tools
Project management is an important feature of many group projects. Project management tools help individuals track how much time and effort they allocate to particular tasks. In the business world, employers often require their employees to use project management tools so they can appropriately bill their clients. Very often, employees work on several projects for different clients; therefore, allocation of their time for each client is very important to record.
Instructors leading online programs, courses, training, or workshops might wish to require students to keep track of their individual and team efforts, not only to monitor the distribution of labor within a group (which could also be part of an individual’s grade for working in a team), but also for groups to gain an understanding of the time and effort involved in completing a group project. This first-hand knowledge and experience documenting effort and time needed for particular tasks is valuable information for online students to know since they might find themselves in the future applying this knowledge to prepare real bids for potential clients or lead a team to work collaboratively. Below is a list of tools that online students might wish to use, as well:
42 tasks: http://42tasks.com/
Backpack: http://backpackit.com/?source=applist
Basecamp: http://basecamphq.com/
RemindPost: http://www.remindpost.com/
Soshiku: http://soshiku.com/
Thoughtboxes: http://thoughtbox.es/
Toodledo: http://www.toodledo.com/
Zoho online project management and planning software: http://www.zoho.com/projects/
About the author
