top collaboration apps for education professionals

top collaboration apps for education professionals

Exploring the Top Collaboration Apps for Education Professionals

1. Introduction to Collaboration Apps in Education

The aim of this tutorial is to introduce education professionals and learners to the key features of online collaborative application tools. In this tutorial, we’re going to focus on the implications of using these kinds of tools for organizing, communicating, or filing purposes and how they can be used within the educational context. Through communication software applications, students are now able to share their work electronically, carry out comments, and make changes in real time. All educators, students, and anyone looking to improve their storage or communication of files can benefit from using our in-depth look at the different online collaborative communication tools available in the apps market. The lack of explanations available for those collaboration tools available, particularly in the education setting, has led to the development of this tutorial, an explanation of some of the most popular educational communication software apps available and how they can be used as part of the student and educator organization or communication strategy.

Collaboration apps are quickly replacing the need for traditional methods of file and information sharing in education. They range from media sharing apps to software with real-time data center technologies. These digital tools are becoming increasingly important in various sectors, including research for advanced work such as podcasts, where files can be easily shared with all users. The overall benefit of team communication apps is to remove barriers to team members, enabling instant communication. This can quickly improve the way in which a team identifies its goals and how members can discuss shared objectives and pursue them in real time.

2. Key Features to Look for in Collaboration Apps

1. A range of sections to divide tasks into smaller steps and arrange meetings: The capability of increasing the quantity of necessary fields ensures all the details are taken into account. 2. Various progress trackers: Clear indicators of progress motivate the members to keep on working. 3. Ability for leaving comments and adding comments with every section: Participants can give feedback and support each other by sharing ideas, links, and examples. It is also a chance to ask questions and get prompt feedback. 4. Capability to underline a few vital digital materials for every section: It should support links, Outlook folders, Google Drive materials, hyperlinks, and even more data to help members looking at brief descriptions.

When identifying reasonable education technology, one must consider the potential applications of its use in the learning process. This is particularly critical because apps for work have a range of characteristics. Irrespective of your educational or personal goals, the subsequent list of elements will allow an educator to decide what is acceptable in a good collaboration app to organize participants’ interactions more effectively. Clearly, such apps must be easy to download and have social logins accessible from any smartphone. Above all, the usage of apps like these is determined by their user-friendliness. In addition, aiming to communicate, collaborate, and grow productivity on academic and practical projects, education professionals must take into account the following:

3. Top Collaboration Apps for Education Professionals

Microsoft Teams is a digital workspace that is part of Microsoft 365 and used by many K–16 institutions. IT departments like to support as few tools as possible so this is an attractive option that multiple departments and disciplines use. Microsoft Teams has many features such as direct messaging, video chats, assignment creation, and grading, but it is not independently a portfolio tool. It does not support much student choice beyond document choice under an assignment. The “Group project” feature to organize work and communication is popular with the Tech Integrators but many teachers don’t know about it.

ClassDojo is the app of choice for many K–12 educators, particularly those working with elementary students. This platform is primarily used for parent communication and behavior management but also supports the creation of student portfolios. That’s right — it’s, believe it or not, a very basic portfolio tool. Students can add pictures and notes to their portfolio and teachers can include videos, files, and links, tag character strengths and skills, and share with parents or students. Since it is yet another portfolio tool, many ClassDojo users don’t realize it until they hear it from someone curious about implementing a portfolio that grants more choice to students.

Want quicker collaboration with more choice for apps? Education is exploring new and expanding old collaboration platforms or apps to support this. Here are three of the top platforms in use.

4. Case Studies: How Schools and Universities are Utilizing Collaboration Apps

This workshop session focused on four online collaboration tools, using small case studies to explore how four different schools — from elementary through university — use each tool to support and enable teaching, learning, administrative functions, or a combination of these tasks. The presenters are library or instructional technology professionals working in different types of educational institutions: Mike Friesen is an educational resources assistant specializing in instructional technology integration at Holy Cross Catholic School, a K-6 elementary in northern Prince George; Tasha Maddison is an educational technology specialist at Nechako Valley Secondary School, in Vanderhoof, BC; Robyn McDowell is a librarian at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver Campus; and Larissa Smit is the Learning & Instructional Designer at the UBC Learning Exchange in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

The following case studies of collaboration apps in practice were presented at a BC Tech in Education Workshop held at Simon Fraser University, Surrey Campus, in October 2017. The workshop format consisted of this keynote presentation, a live conference panel discussion, breakout groups where participants could ask presenters further questions, and a hands-on session where participants could implement the tools demonstrated.

Case Studies: A Practical Field Report

Knight, A., & Gray, L. (2022). Top Collaboration Apps for Education Professionals. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 17(1).

5. Best Practices for Implementing Collaboration Apps in Educational Settings

First, the foundational success of any technology adoption is ensuring buy-in from your end users – in this case, teachers, students, and other school staff. To achieve this, alignment must occur at the district level. Your top technology administrator should work closely with curriculum leaders and educators to ensure that not only is the intended use of the app clearly understood but that it aligns with existing educational goals and practices. Prepare a clear, structured approach to implementing the new collaborative app, especially including student training. The use of such apps must also be revisited and reviewed periodically to assess the extent to which they are being used as intended and in what context they are being used. The process will serve to continually align administrators and teachers in terms of the app’s ongoing impact. In terms of IT, it can also reveal any unresolved technical issues.

As educators, the technology initiatives we include in our classrooms and curriculum need to offer clear and consistent benefits that enhance the student learning experience. Such is the case of collaboration apps specially designed for educational contexts. This whitepaper lists five best practices to successfully implement them and ensure they align with other existing educational applications at your school.