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Student reflections on collaborative technology in a globally distributed student project.

McDermott, Roger; Daniels, Mats; Cajander, �sa; Cullhed, Mats; Clear, Tony; Laxer, Cary

Authors

Roger McDermott

Mats Daniels

�sa Cajander

Mats Cullhed

Tony Clear

Cary Laxer



Abstract

Collaborative Technology (CT) plays an important role in overcoming the challenges of globally distributed projects. It enables collaboration, but the specific choice of technology also imposes constraints on how projects are conducted. Over the past decade, we have engaged in an action research programme to develop an Open-Ended Group Project situated in an educational framework in which international collaboration, including interaction with a real world client, is an essential component. This paper investigates the manner in which students reflected on their patterns of CT use within the collaborative setting. In general, these reflections were found to be superficial and descriptive, exhibiting a reductive view of CT as a set of technological features, which acted as a neutral medium for communication and participation. One consequence of this was a lack of awareness of the ways in which the technology influenced the behaviour of individual students or the collaborative nature of the group. We explore some potential causes for this and reflect on some difficulties faced by the students. These have important pedagogical implications for courses in which the learning objectives include the development of suitable competencies for working in a global collaborative environment.

Citation

MCDERMOTT, R., DANIELS, M., CAJANDER, A., CULLHED, M., CLEAR, T. and LAXER, C. 2012. Student reflections on collaborative technology in a globally distributed student project. In Proceedings of the 2012 Frontiers in education conference (FIE 2012): soaring to new heights in engineering education, 3-6 October 2012, Seattle, USA. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE [online], article number 6462410. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2012.6462410

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (published)
Conference Name 2012 Frontiers in education conference (FIE 2012)
Start Date Oct 3, 2012
End Date Oct 6, 2012
Acceptance Date Oct 6, 2012
Online Publication Date Oct 6, 2012
Publication Date Feb 19, 2013
Deposit Date Mar 14, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 14, 2017
Print ISSN 0190-5848
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Article Number 6462410
Series ISSN 0190-5848
ISBN 9781467313537; 9781467313513
DOI https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2012.6462410
Keywords Reflections; Collaborative technology; Open-ended group projects; Global collaboration; Scaffolding
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2217
Contract Date Mar 14, 2017

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