Using An Intranet As A Collaborative Tool In The Classroom

Electronic collaboration between students and faculty to enhance and reinforce learning has now become feasible using very simple hardware and software. Given that many businesses deem collaboration skills to be extremely important, this is an area of instruction that should be investigated in curricula. This paper details how a class intranet was used as a collaboration tool in a group computer project. The class was divided into teams and given a multi-stage project to complete. At each stage of the project, one team was designated as a lead team. The lead team had to complete the stage two weeks ahead ofthe other teams and post on the class intranet a series of tips and recommendations for completing the stage. This experience provided students hands-on experience with intranets, simulated a workgroup environment with a unique experience of collaboration, and gave students additional opportunity to learn through explaining a process in writing to others