Collaboration

There are many websites that advertise real-time collaboration facilities that will allow multiple editors to work on a project simultaneously.

I thought it would be a good idea to utilize a collaborative website to have the students practice cooperating.

My first foray into this field was a disaster.

The website I chose to use was Nota.

I instructed the students to form groups of two or three, create accounts at Nota, and then collaboratively produce a poster. In theory, one user creates a new page and then invites editors to join.

About half the invited students were not able to edit the page. They simply received a message that said, "You are not allowed to edit this page." For everyone else, the changes they made to the page did not appear on the other students' screens. For whatever reason, the collaboration mechanism did not function.

I was obliged to abandon the assignment.

Photo by Vurnman.