Collaborative workspaces

a group of people having a meeting with their devices

If you are working on a project together, it can help to have a common space where you can all share files or work at the same time.

At Swansea University all students have an Office 365 account and other software, which will allow you to attend meetings online, store and share files online and co-author documents. There are also other options available like Google Drive and DropBox. With Office 365 and Google Drive, you can not only store files in the same place, but you can also edit them together in real-time.

Using collaborative workspaces

Whenever you are using a collaborative workspace for group work, you need to make sure you share content with everyone in your group. Once you've uploaded files, make sure you select the relevant folder and choose the 'share' option. You will usually need everyone's email address to set this up. After this is done, everyone will be able to add their files, comments and notes into the same shared area.

Top tip: Take minutes or notes for every group meeting you have - even if this is not required. It is a great way to record decisions, responsibilities and actions.

Getting collaboration right

Just as with face to face collaboration, it is really important to communicate effectively and professionally. You should ensure everyone in your group has a role, and takes responsibility for doing what is required. When decisions are made, you should record them and everyone in the group should stick to them.

This content is drawn from the following source from Hull University, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.