Building Collaboration Through Technology
Ruth V. Small
Collaboration is a common phenomenon in many organizations today and technology provides a valuable tool for facilitating significant collaborative interactions. This article describes the development and implementation ofan interdisciplinary, graduate-level online coursefocusing on technology and collaboration as means ofaffecting change in educational organizations. Students were required to learn to use a variety ofexisting and emerging, self-contained and distributed technologies, as well as learn about ways to apply these technologies for use in a range ofeducational contexts. Assignments required students to collaborate with each other and with on-site practitioners in a variety of educational settings.
Ruth V. Small is professorand director of the school media program in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and serves as the first director of the University's interdisciplinary Center for Digital Literacy. Her research focuses on the motivational aspects of information use. Dr. Small has direct edorservedas consultant to 23 funded research projects. Shereceivedthe 1997"Highsmith Research Award" from the American Association of SchoolLibrarians and200I Carroll Preston Baber Research Award from the American Library Association. Dr. Small has morethan 100publications to her credit, including six books, and has served on the editorial boards ofSchool Library Media Research, Journalfor Global Information Systems, and School Libraries Worldwide.
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