diana o’keeffe integrating learning and technology john jamison

LEARN EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION SKILLS

Diana O’Keeffe

Integrating Learning and Technology

John Jamison


Welcome to Learn Effective

Collaboration Skills

The purpose of the Learn Effective

Collaboration Skills course is to offer the types of

personal collaboration skills a participant may

want to develop and draw upon. Individuals and

teams are often expected to come up with new

ideas or to problem solve. A decision

surrounding which idea is best to move forward

with or which solution is best for a problem can be

reached through effective collaboration.

“Collaboration” without a guide to focus thinking is often random, unproductive, and diminished by interpersonal conflict (Jalote, 2012).

Bringing together several different voices from within an organization helps to raise the profile of ideas that may never have come to the forefront if not for the collaborative effort (Jones, 2010).


Introduction

The target audience for the Effective

Collaboration Skills course is an employee who is

looking to develop collaboration skills for career

or personal growth. A team leader may use the

course as part of team training.

The course is available online . An employee can

access the course at any time. The course is self-

paced and an individual should allow at least an

hour to complete. Basic computer skills will be

necessary to use the suggested web sites for skill

building. No other pre-requisites are necessary.

Learning Objectives

Given articles to read, a learner should be able to remember, understand, and apply

ways in which to discuss ideas in a collaborative environment for an effective outcome.

Given the suggested web applications to use, a learner should be able to create

diagrams or documents as collaboration tools for further analyzing, evaluating, and

sharing of an idea or a solution for problem solving.

Given articles to read, a learner should be able to identify and avoid the pitfalls of group

collaboration to stay on track.



Learning Activities

The technical tools that can be used as the

activities in the course will give the learner the

visual for understanding and the ability to

create diagrams or documents to be used as

collaboration tools.

Technical tools that encourage collaboration

will enable all participants the ability to either

demonstrate their ideas or analyze others

effectively so they may feel valued.

Before you begin …

Think about the last time you worked

on a project .

1. Was everyone heard?

2. Were the ideas talked through?

3. Did one person take over while others listened?

If you are on a team that makes a decision you don’t really support but you feel you can’t say or do anything about it, your enthusiasm will quickly fade (Mindtools, 2013).

LEARN EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION SKILLS Activities

Read the articles thoroughly and note any items or concepts that you may want to try.

You will be applying and analyzing these concepts in other activities in this course.

Articles Characteristics of Effective

Collaborationhttp://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/70714-characteristics-of-effective-collaboration/

Avoiding Groupthink:

Avoiding Fatal Flaws in Group Decision Making

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm

Right click on link and choose Open hyper link or place in browser.

http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/70714-characteristics-of-effective-collaboration/






One way to begin the collaboration effort, an individual may want to describe an idea or explain a problem to others.

An individual may need further understanding of the topic being presented.

Brainstorming may be key to getting started.

Activity

Visit the Visuwords website for a dictionary/thesaurus that automatically creates word associations in a diagram. A sample diagram is on the next slide.

Link - http://www.visuwords.com/

Use it by inserting a key word or phrase from an idea or problem into the center of Visuwords to create a diagram. Seeing a word or phase described in various ways will aid in remembering and understanding the topic.


Center word is

Idea


Create a decision tree that shows the central idea or problem.

By seeing the topic in the center and creating branches to additional ideas or solutions, individuals can make visual comparisons to analyze the best outcome.

Apply suggestions from the articles that you read while creating this decision tree, for instance, encouraging everyone to contribute.

A branch may represent each contributor.

Activity Visit the Mindmeister web site to

create a decision tree or mind map.

Use the tools to create branches or connections to other ideas.

Sample diagram is on the next slide.

Link - http://www.mindmeister.com/


One problem - three possible outcomes.


You may want to create a document or spreadsheet for further evaluation from leaders based on the decision tree.

Everyone collaborating on the project will want to have the access to the document at the same time.

The document can be collectively critiqued before presentation.

This demonstrates that the outcome of collaboration is the efforts of many, not just one as mentioned in the articles.

Activity Visit the Google Docs web site to

experience the choices that are available for effective collaborating.

Notice on the next slide that people are contributing to the document at the same time.

Link- http://www.youtube.com/docs


Same time responses.


AssessmentDescribe how using Visuwords increased your ability to remember, understand, and

brainstorm an idea.

Describe how you were able to apply key concepts from the articles, such as listening skills or being respectful of other ideas, to creating a diagram in Mindmeister.

How did seeing a diagram created in Mindmeister help you analyze a topic?

How do you think you or your team would benefit from using an application like Google Docs?

How did using technology, like the ones mentioned, improve your ability to collaborate?


References

Jalote, S. (2012). Assessing collaborative skills in the workplace. Retrieved from

http://www.futuregov.asia/blog/2012/oct/25/assessing-collaborative-skills-

workplace/

Jones, N. (2010). Collaboration at work: a look at the pros and cons. Retrieved from

http://www.brighthub.com/office/collaboration/articles/73856.aspx

Mindtools, (2013). Avoiding groupthink: avoiding fatal flaws in group decision

making. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm


Resources

Google Docs (2013). Google docs. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/docs

Mindmeister (2013). Mindmeister. Retrieved from http://www.mindmeister.com/

Mindtools (2013). Avoiding groupthink: avoiding fatal flaws in group decision making.

Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm

Tyson, B. (2011). Characteristics of effective collaboration. Retrieved from

http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/70714-characteristics-of-effective-

collaboration/

Visuwords. (2013) Visuwords. Retrieved from http://www.visuwords.com/

diana o’keeffe integrating learning and technology john jamison

Documents

collaboration tools

effective outcome

technical tools

profile of ideas

new ideas

basic computer skills

learning activities

learning objectives