My 3650 group meets every couple of weeks outside of class to keep each other updated on what’s going on and to plan out the next steps in our project. We usually meet in Uris, in one of the CL3 labs. This workspace is ideal for collaborative projects such as ours. Each computer’s workstation consists of a dual-screen monitor. There is enough space for the three of us to all pull up chairs and share the large-screen display. This setup works well for us. Since the CL3 lab is not a “quiet” zone like the rest of the library, we are able to communicate freely and discuss what is displayed. Since the screen is large, gestures such as pointing are viable options for the group members who don’t have access to the mouse. We all bring our laptops to the meeting; if there is something relevant on our hard drive that we want to share, we email it to whoever is controlling the lab’s computer so that it is easily seen by everyone.
However, there are also difficulties. Although it is easy enough to email documents and pictures to each other so that they can be seen on the monitor, email is often slow in reaching the other members and this often causes us to lose focus on the task at hand and start talking about unrelated subjects.
Another problem is transitioning between activities. Since we use our personal laptops to take notes as reminders while referencing the shared monitor, if someone wants to look at another document or webpage, they have to ensure that the other members are finished referencing the current page on the screen.
We also use Google Docs while we are in the lab to share information between the laptops and the shared desktop. This sometimes causes a problem because Google Docs does not instantaneously update to reflect the most recent changes. Therefore, sometimes the shared document does not accurately reflect the things which are being said. This sometimes causes those of us who are using our laptops to be briefly confused before the document reflects the most recent change.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I also talked about the CL3 lab too! We usually get in there when it's empty so each person has there own station, meaning each person has the dual screen computer. It's really easy to add things into the google document, especially from readings because you can have both up at the same time. I agreed with your problem about the document reflecting things being said because it doesn't instantenously update it. I said there needed to be a way for google to show what was currently being altered in a way so that all members could see it.
ReplyDeleteCL3 is a good place to meet to work on. I find it unfortunate that the set up has two keyboard and a mouse for each, but yet the computer does not support the use of both at the same time. If this was allowed you would be able to better sync documents or share across the screen. I find it interesting that last we we viewed several different collaborative displays but none of them were simple display with the ability to manage several I/O devices for multiple users.
ReplyDelete