• By Amanda Beres

Throughout the course, I stress to my students the importance of collaboration. Especially as business majors in a Business Communication course, my students will always be part of a team. While I repeat this sentiment over and over, we inevitably come to the final two projects of the semester, and inevitably to issues of group work. It always seems the same or similar issues come up. “I don’t know who my group members are” or “My group and I haven’t met yet”. I get these comments from students often with only two weeks left in the semester, and the group project due in a matter of days. My response generally is “Reach out to your group, and include me in the email”. It seems then the main issue with such collaboration is communication. 

It is ironic to think that issues of communication and collaboration might come up in a communication course. But it all comes back to how we encourage our students to communicate. Ann Hill Duin et. al. suggests in The Rhetoric, Science, and Technology of 21st Century Collaboration that we need to look at both what collaborative communication tools are available and which ones students already use. From Google Scholar to Google Docs, students engage with collaborative processes the moment they begin their research. Researching and selecting articles, book chapters, journals, and other sources requires multiple people to engage in a conversation. Instructors must focus on how these conversations are facilitated. This includes both technology and cultural and societal context. 

As Duin et. al. says, it is clear “… that the nature of collaboration is revealed through exploration of culture, authority, conflict, and gender,” (  (Duin, et. al, 173). Every student comes with their own assumptions, ideas, and skills. The goal of  collaboration is to allow all students a moment to speak and be heard. We then must ask what tools facilitate this the best.  Will Google Docs be fine? Or would something like Slack or GroupMe work better? Might a Discussion Board or Class Blog be sufficient? And most importantly, what tools will students use on the job? In all of these questions, there must be a shared idea of responsibility and working towards the same goal. Students must understand each group member comes from a different point of view, based on culture, past experience, work ethic, and much more. This can lead to issues of communication. It is then the instructor’s job to facilitate discussion. Most strategies I use in my classroom to facilitate this are straightforward:

• Guided Peer Review
• Discussion Boards
• In-Class Group Activities 
• Assigned Roles in Group Presentations
• Developing Team Charters
• Shared Weekly Meeting Logs

They work for the most part. However, I wonder if they cover the increasing use of technology. I may add exploring Slack or LinkedIn to explore internal business communication. Duin, et. al. point out “Today’s technical communication students need to be prepared for a workplace that deploys collaborative software or team communication platforms,”  (Duin,et. al, 181). This is especially true for Business Communication. Collaboration does not always happen in person or in the same place. Students need more exposure to these tools to collaborate well in the workplace, especially in Business Communication. The go-to tools like Slack, GroupMe, Pay.com, and Monday.com must be introduced into the classroom. For me, it comes down to this: 1) understanding what tools students already have in their collaboration toolbox, and 2) introducing new tools that support their specific collaborative efforts and their specific fields. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle to bring.