Collaborative Learning Software

[Dave Duarte]

What software have you used, or would like to use, to support learning and collaboration in your company/school?

[Dave Everitt]

Off the top of my head:

I use Basecamp for all major projects, and find it unbeatable for stress-free collaboration, if everyone takes to it.

I favour wikis, but find it hard to engage others in the 'wiki way' - Ward Cunningham's original (on programming patterns etc.) is still plain, simple and incredibly effective at capturing a continually-evolving collective knowledge base.

I've also used Google docs, but didn't find it gave much of an advantage over emailing files with strict current dates in the filename and metadata.

[Dave Duarte]

You raise the very valid point that selecting the right software is only half the story, getting people to actually participate and use it is where the real challenge lies!

We also use Basecamp here, and currently it's just Me, Max and Kirsten that use it (partially), which is not even half our little company!

I don't know whether this is a usability issues, a training issues, or a time management issue.

[Maximillian Kaizen]

We're not alone - I know that Joshin for one has had huge problems with uptake for the iKineo team to use Basecamp.
But think what Joey was saying in regard to yet another social network to keep up with, we have to prove VALUE.

If there's a program where we can't see clear bottom.line benefit (gives me more time, money, connection, first access to new findings, legacy) and pretty quickly at that - we simply can't afford to pay attention to it.
This is one of the Attention Economy themes that keeps coming up in your talks.

How do we effectively use the tools to break open ground to allow an ecology to develop, for the collaboration to be fertile? To become something alive and dynamic rather than just a repository for information.

[LOL! but that may be my bias because community development I believe is an art. The (online and realworld) tools we use should just be the canvas on which to work, not the focus of the effort itself].

Huddlemind is playing with a couple of interesting learning platforms to facilitate intellectual asset creation and management for organisations, teams, co-working groups & we'd LOVE to collaborate if this inspires you!
(particularly if you have clarity with regard to tech., insights on community development from an anthropological standpoint or if you're a superb facilitator or dialogue specialist.)
Please connect in with me if you're keen on joining an experiment with the Labs team >>

[Kirsten Pearson]

Lab partner at the ready! I use the Belbin tool in facilitation and have noticed that it really helps to have a 'Team Worker' as part of a Project Team. The 'Team Worker' is Belbinese (I made that up, I'm calling it a Huddleword) for someone who is characteristically the flexible communicator offering support and bolstering team spirit. It's helpful to have them championing the use of the chosen IT tool at the water cooler.

Back in the day when I was on a Pan-European launch team for a product that had to hit the shelves in 3 months, a large proportion of the work was done at Starbucks! I think coffee is a key ingredient for Project success and I'm not just being a bit whimsical. Personally, when I connect on a human level with those I'm working with, it feels less like work to me and more like a pleasure to do the things that need doing. In the pacyness of today's Attention Economy, engagement is currency. So, I submit that if people feel engaged and excited about the work they're doing or excited about working with each other, they're more likely to find the ertia to overcome technophobia.

[Stii Pretorius]

Basecamp is much more userfriendly and "obvious" compared to other project management packages out there. We used Omniplan for a while, but it is simply too time consuming and elaborate that it takes more time to manage the software rather than the project. For us, Basecamp was the definite answer.

[Dave Duarte]

We've recently started looking at Huddle.net as an alternative to Basecamp, mainly cos we like the name, but also cos we've heard good things about it too.

[Stii Pretorius]

An excellent find. I especially like the fact that the free option has a 1 gig disk space option. Will definitely check it out.

[Maximillian Kaizen]

I'd especially love Steli's input on this one because he gets to hang out at the heart of development central and sees through the perspective of neo.learning.
Wonder if anyone loves Moodle?

[Dave Duarte]

Two that I've come across:
* My Note IT: Like Project Management for Students. A brilliant web-based system for storing and sharing notes, files, class schedules, it even integrates with mobile and will SMS updates to you!
* Hot Chalk: A Learner Management System (LMS) for teachers and students, it has proven results and big-money backing.

[nomad-one]

I've been hunting for the killer app for ages and gone through tons of programs, web based networks, desktop software free and paid for but there just seems to be something missing, something, something which adds a layer which connects people and their ideas in a more human and meaningful manner.

I think 37 signals has a point when it comes to keeping things simple, though functional simplicity is not necessarily the key to making something powerful enough to unlock the secret ingredient in human interactions.

I think something which is very scalable and can be personalised yet allows for individuals to do many different types of tasks together would work. Take some of the open source frameworks or social networks with all their add-ons yet each person can personalise their use of it.

What we need is a personal communications interface which can be personalised to different ways of thinking or different type of data. You need to be able to do enough tasks in the one space to make it more meaningful and not dilute it's effect with all the other apps and networks you're involved with. The more problems one platform can solve in communicating with others, sharing data the and sorting sphere's of interaction the better.

There's way too much specialisation flying around this one misses that,that one does this well but can't do that.
what do you guys think, that's my dragged out 2 cents worth :)

[Dave Everitt]

The Uni where I teach part-time uses Blackboard, which I find over-complex and clunky; however, I do manage to use it effectively for all my teaching materials - I can even provide links to HTML slide shows in a full-screen browser like Opera. But the main problem is that most of the staff don't have the either the time or the expertise to really use it effectively. This leads me to a couple of points:

1. Tiered feature sets: KISS (KeepItSimpleStupid) top layers to encourage swift uptake - little to learn, intuitive and obvious (like 37's Ta-Da), with further more powerful layers, revealed by degrees only when the user requests them (this is where Blackboard fails badly - no KISS).

2. An obligation up front by all group members to use the tools - even if only to obtain the latest information; this encourages familiarity through necessity. In any group users range from those who use such tools only as necessary, to those who end up customising the code; and while no-one should be pushed towards tools that force a learning curve (as in 'software that requires a manual has already failed'), they can be encouraged to start with a minimal set of tools that don't demand too much, but simply deliver what's immediately useful.

I'm kind of reminded of Apple's original genius 'software develoipment for the rest of us' tool HyperCard, which acheived these things (in glorious black&white) admirably. My (then) 9-year old daughter could use it without pain, yet it was deceptively powerful in its deeper reaches, and extensible enough for serious programmers. And it had instant graphics. Processing (processing.org) derived from John Maeda's DesignByNumbers is a similar tool for both learning programming and serious art-technology projects. I'm also reminded of the radical simplicity of WriteRoom and DarkRoom that strip away absolutely everything to allow total focus on your writing... now imagine those apps with extensible depth...

This leads me to a mantra for such tools:
simple to use with satifying results on first try, with graded depth to meet individual needs and skills on demand.

The perfect match would be an uncluttered interface with minimal tool set, backed up by a template-type system (like WordPress or MovableType only simpler) over an Open Source scripting language to which trusted users could gain access. Hmm... except for the front-end, sounds like several tools already out there - the problem is that no-one (as far as I know) has effectively adapted any of them to such an end - most blogs look like the default (or a ready-made template), not Koi Vinh's subtraction.com. This raises the point that many users won't move beyond the default feature set... however, that's just as it should be, so long as they aren't limited to that feature set for all time.

BTW what are the 'interesting learning platforms' with which Huddlemind is playing? I'm interested.

[Bradley Shrimpton]

We are in the process of moving to Google Apps. I particularly like the mail features (all platform access incl. mobile), the wiki (on streriods) google sites and the calendar sharing features. We sync our macs and pc's with third party tools and have found the calendar sharing an invaluable part of managing projects.


Keen for your labs to test us...