I made this time lapse video of my kids (Emma and Gabe) and I collaborating to build the LEGO City Firetruck. I used my iPad and an app called Frameographer, but there are lots of other stop motion and time lapse tools out there.
What is Collaboration, and How Does It Relate to Digital Portfolios?
Collaboration can be valuable not only as a desirable skill in the workplace and in life in general, but also because collaboration is a force multiplier. We humans tend to accomplish more working together than we can on our own.
In one specific context, we could define collaboration as people working together towards a common desired outcome - for example, a LEGO model, or an artifact of learning to be shared on a digital portfolio. Because of that shared desired outcome, collaboration is closely tied to project-based learning. One of the benefits of project-based learning is sharing the things we make with others to get feedback and inspiration, in order to deepen our learning and improve our skills. On collaborative projects, that feedback and inspiration can be instant and continuous among the collaborators.
Having an authentic audience is a powerful way to keep the outcome of the collaboration focused on the quality of the learning, rather than being "judged" for a grade. Sharing the outcome of the collaboration on a digital portfolio can help keep the learners focused on addressing that authentic audience, and therefore on the quality of the project (and the learning).
In one specific context, we could define collaboration as people working together towards a common desired outcome - for example, a LEGO model, or an artifact of learning to be shared on a digital portfolio. Because of that shared desired outcome, collaboration is closely tied to project-based learning. One of the benefits of project-based learning is sharing the things we make with others to get feedback and inspiration, in order to deepen our learning and improve our skills. On collaborative projects, that feedback and inspiration can be instant and continuous among the collaborators.
Having an authentic audience is a powerful way to keep the outcome of the collaboration focused on the quality of the learning, rather than being "judged" for a grade. Sharing the outcome of the collaboration on a digital portfolio can help keep the learners focused on addressing that authentic audience, and therefore on the quality of the project (and the learning).
Elements of Collaboration
Communication and shared access to the work being done are two elements of collaboration. When collaboration happens face to face, communication and shared access to the work are as easy as sitting at a table building a LEGO model together. When collaboration can't happen face to face, modern web tools offer many ways to easily communicate and share access to the work, making collaboration among geographically dispersed participants possible.
Web-based communication tools can be grouped into asynchronous and synchronous types. Asynchronous communication tools include email, forums, text and instant messaging, and other similar tools that let responses happen when it's convenient. Synchronous communication tools include conferencing apps like Skype and Google Hangouts that let participants see and talk to each other in real time.
When emailing revisions of files back and forth get too complicated and messy, modern web tools like Google Drive and Dropbox allow shared access to files and documents without the file and revision management headaches of sending individually edited files. These work sharing tools also integrate well with web-based communication tools - participants can discuss the changes they're making to shared documents in real time.
Web-based communication tools can be grouped into asynchronous and synchronous types. Asynchronous communication tools include email, forums, text and instant messaging, and other similar tools that let responses happen when it's convenient. Synchronous communication tools include conferencing apps like Skype and Google Hangouts that let participants see and talk to each other in real time.
When emailing revisions of files back and forth get too complicated and messy, modern web tools like Google Drive and Dropbox allow shared access to files and documents without the file and revision management headaches of sending individually edited files. These work sharing tools also integrate well with web-based communication tools - participants can discuss the changes they're making to shared documents in real time.
The Future of Collaboration Tools
The field of web-based collaboration tools is seeing some interesting innovations. One trend is the replacement of email and other "traditional" collaboration tools with integrated team collaboration tools. Slack is a new tool that was just released that aims to provide team communication across all devices and platforms, with all communication instantly searchable. It's currently aimed mainly at software development teams, but it could easily be adapted to other forms of collaborative work and learning. I've got some ideas for using Slack to collaborate on some "big picture" projects at the intersection of technology and learning. You can get an in-depth look at Slack's ambitious goals in this company memo, shared by founder Stewart Butterfield: We Don't Sell Saddles Here (warning: contains some adult words).
Reflection: Collaboration
I've always loved experimenting with web-based collaboration tools - I've built and used them for a long time. In 2005, I created an internal wiki at work, modeled after Wikipedia, that has grown to tens of thousands of pages and hundreds of millions of page views, and is widely used even eight years later. Looking forward, I'm excited to explore how collaboration using web tools and digital portfolios can be used for learning, and to try new collaboration tools like Slack to find how they can be useful in that context.