Collaborative Technologies: Insight from the Classroom Experience
Jay M. Lightfoot
Collaborative technologies exemplify information technology that has evolved in response to the need to increase efficiency and effectiveness of group meetings and cooperative work. As groups playa more important role in organizations, the use of collaborative technologies becomes more endemic. However, students training for organizationalpositions generally do not receive a high level oftraining in group work or working with collaborative technologies. To address this challenge. we introduced three collaborative technologies, Groupsystemst», SAMM, and Option Finder, in two graduate business courses. Our main objective was to better understandhow these technologies might be introduced and integrated into the classroom environment to support the learning process. The students providedfeedback on the use ofthe technologies regarding positive and negative aspects and methods ofimproving the process. Thepositive aspects ofusing these technologies were they provided a more efficient decision making process, anonymity, faster feedback and a more structured and focused process. The negative aspects included a lack of interaction among the students, a difficulty in learning the technology and not enough time. It is believed that the negative aspects were more an artifact ofconstrained classroom time than a response to the technology. Methods of improvement included more discussion and more training on the technology.
Peggy M Beranek received her PhD in Management Information Systems from the University ofArizona in 1991 and is currently an associate professor at Bentley College. Herprimaryresearchinterestsinclude the use ofGroupWare and Virtual Teams in business, facilitation issues for GroupWare and the use of qualitative research techniques. She has published papers on facilitation skills ofGroupWare facilitators, the use of distributed GroupWare technology, membertrainingfor virtualteams, usefulness andease ofuse issues in the design of computer interfaces. She has previously published in Management Information Systems Quarterly, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems Journal, The Journal ofComputer Information Systems, and others and has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences. She has also taught graduate and executive seminars on GroupWare, PhD seminars on qualitative research techniques and workshops on Qualitative Research methods for Computer Supported Collaborative Work systems.
Karen D. Loch is the director of the Institute of International Business and associate professor at Georgia State University. Her current research interests span international IT transfer, knowledge management,and social and ethical concerns of Information Systems. She has published in journals such as Communications ofthe ACM, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Journal, Journal of GlobalInformation Management, JournalofBusiness Ethics, and a book on international IT education. She serves as associate editor for the Journal of Global Information Technology Management, global editor for The Journal of Global Information Management, and as review board member for Information Resources Management Journal.
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