Shared public display for F2F team collaboration

Advanced collaboration suite for small groups engaging in F2F collaborative networked learning. Some folks are still sending out series of emails when they can use a shared display to work more efficiently. Discuss issues and make decisions as you go so that everyone stays aligned. Since the work happens on the big public screen, everyone can see exactly what has been done and offer opinions about changing the content in real time. Networked, co-located groups can share and manipulate content on shared public display. All the team’s joint work is done on the big screen, which is driven by the TeamSpot “Host” computer. Rather than huddling around a individual’s computer in a small group setting that only one person controls, anyone in the team can set to, and manipulate content, on the shared public display that no one person owns but everyone can share. A team member can make their content available to the public display or go “off line” to research additional relevant content to enhance their contribution to the group while others work on the public display. Anyone in the group can redirect their own cursor onto the public work surface and work on the Host computer’s display as if their mouse and keyboard were plugged directly into it. Multiple people can even work on the big screen at the same time, each with a uniquely identified cursor. In addition, “save archive” creates artifacts of the group knowledge which is a record which can be studied by all participants and shared as a mobile artifact of the group collaborative learning. I am hopeful that the same software could be shared by virtual groups but it does not appear to be an option at this time. I do believe that the design features evidenced in this package are a step forward. Of course, one will have to consider the overall pricing and implementation of this particular package in relation to individual enterprise needs. For more information on the related products and pricing contact Tidebreak

Robin Good's 2010 Best Collaborative Tools

Robin Good has published an extensive mind map of collaborative tools. Follow the links on the map to locate many new tools to support CNL and CLW. Let me know which tools you find helpful. Collaboration Tools 2010 Mind Map

Curatr Launches: Social Learning SW Connects content and person objects

Using an object oriented approach to viewing people and the content created in various media as connectible objects, Curatr's features and metaphor for social learning holds promise to support collaborative networked learning for self organizing learners and for other guided learners as well as the collaborative networked learning-worker in the larger organization. Curators organize information into Collections, Exhibitions with Guides in a Museum Gallery space metaphor. Participants have the opportunity to bring together information objects to improve the understanding of a subject area. These objects can be commented on and improved to further refine what would otherwise be unrelated information into a structured area of understanding on a particular subject.
Curatr uses colored nodes to represent Learning Objects. Learning Objects can be anything from a document to an interactive animation. Every piece within Curatr is given a specific Reliability Rating, which is then used to position the node on the Gallery. It will be important to understand and track the factors used for the Reliability Ratings as the objects grow in the system.
Learning Objects with a higher Reliability Rating are shown closer to the middle of the Gallery, with less important objects gradually floating to the outer regions of the visual space.
People objects are also part of the learning system.
Using the 'Peer View', you can get a picture of the group you are operating within; see who the big contributors are, locate friends and highlight Subject Matter Experts.
Curatr is one of the new web based visual approaches to engagement, connection and collaboration around people "objects" as holder of ideas and expertise and dynamically growing content objects as nodes which one can connected guided by the desired purpose of the learner.
Ben Betts, creative director for Curatr, explained the underlying philosophy and operation.

I am hopeful that some of us can use this for a real collaborative learning-work project. Any candidates?

Creating Artifacts in Real Time with New Google Doc's

New and improved Google Doc's provides features to help those creating a text based artifact of their learning through collaboration. Using Google Doc's collaborators can now see what others are typing character-by-character. Small or large teams can work together; up to 50 people can now collaborate on one document. The company has also added a chat feature that allows collaborators to discuss a document in a popup that appears on the right-hand side. Check out the short video introducing the new Google Doc's

Conversation to Knowledge Flowdock for CLW

Teams engaged in Collaborative Learning Work are often engaged in "conversations" with one another. The conversations using different social media take on value as part of the ongoing, expanding knowledge base over the life of the team. Flowdock represents a new way for team members to capture by tagging some bits of knowledge from these conversations. The tagged bits can be found later when needed by the group. Flowdock allows a participant to tag in any of the different communication tools used by the team. One accesses Flowdock tagged knowledge bits in a cloud for the particular group , so it is accessability anywhere. Mobile access is underdevelopment. Interesting beginning on ways to capture and use conversations.

Pew--Future of Network-structured communities

Most surveyed believe that innovative forms of online cooperation could result in more efficient and responsive for-profit firms, non-profit organizations, and government agencies by the year 2020. Pew Internet & American Life Project: "The respondents who addressed the issue of “innovative forms of online cooperation” sometimes referred to activities between people and institutions that were post-bureaucratic. They argued that people could use the internet and cell phones to create alternative, un-bureaucratic structures to solve problems through network-structured communities."

Aardvark--new learning tool using your network

Collaborative networked learning can be real-time. New opportunities for finding and forming CNL's are taking shape in the real-time Web of people, not content repositories. One such application which shows promise is Aardvark. Aardvark provides a preview of tools in the making.

Working on a learning task, missing critical information to formulate a hypothesis or test out your hunch, you can connect in real-time with Aardvark. You can post any question, and Aardvark will attempt to find a person in your extended network who knows about the topic and is available to answer at the moment.


"Aardvark facilitates these conversations through a very polite IM bot, an iPhone app with push notifications, the company's website, Twitter or email. Instead of broadcasting your question to every one's stream of information, Aardvark delivers the question only to people who are relevant and available."
The Aardvark mission is to get you current answers, not previously published text from repositories, from persons in your own network. Expanding one's network of course increases the possibility of locating someone with knowledge who is available. CNL today is not limited to asynchronous conversation as groups emerge into the real-time conversational web.