How-tos: Communicate and Collaborate on the Web

Nowadays, with the rapid development of technology, it becomes more and more common that using computers is an essential part of students’ life. However, how to efficiently communicate and collaborate on the web is still a problem that students should not neglect.

In order to communicate efficiently on the web, netiquette is important, which is a set of standards for individuals to communicate with others. The netiquette can help students to protect their digital reputation. Some tips for better communication are: avoid all caps, add emoticons to convey tone, eliminate opportunities for misunderstanding, and do not over-analyzing.

Emails, blogs,  and discussion posts are some approaches to communicate on the Internet. For college students, it is ubiquitous to contact your instructors through emails. Therefore, remember to use official university email, resist sarcasm, provide specific information, apply the letter format, and keep in contact. As for blogs, they are similar with public online journals, where students are able to share their ideas, and read and post comments. Discussion posts are more explicit to display your classmates’ opinions and instructors’ comments.

Since the first year of college, students have been assigned several group projects. Thus, it is crucial to efficiently collaborate on academic projects. The first step is preparations, when students review project’s requirements, introduce each other, exchange contact information, identify group roles, and distribute tasks. Then, it is time to work on the projects. However, meetings are not dispensable,  as well as collaboration. By using the tools on the web, it is much easier to complete the task. Skype, IM, and chat rooms are chat tools when all team members cannot meet at the same location. Doodle and Whenisgood help the team to select the best meeting time. Wikis and Google Docs enable students to edit the draft simultaneously. Personally, I more prefer Google Doc, which contains documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

In conclusion, communicating and collaborating on the web are extremely important for college students. Therefore, it is necessary to manipulate the tools described above.

One thought on “How-tos: Communicate and Collaborate on the Web

  1. I agree with you that using proper communication the of the Internet is a good way to protect your digital reputation. Using your official university email address is also important so your instructor knows your name.# and can address any problems you have immediately. I have been delayed in resolving student issues many times simply because I did not have the students name.# at hand.

    You’ve highlighted several ways we can meet to do group work virtually. Doodle polls and Google Docs are two of the best tools available to get group work done. Thank you for these tips, and I look forward to reading your next blog post.

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