How Do I Have Students Complete Group, Project Work (Work Together)?

Meet Online: Students can meet online on Skype for Business/Zoom/Teams to plan and have discussions.

Moodle: If an instructor creates Groups, students can have text-chat discussions and share files.  Students can meet online using web conferencing tools.

Teams: Instructors or Students can create groups in Teams (using private channels).  Students can then have online meetings, discussions (text-chat), share files, and create and co-edit documents.  Optionally, students can assemble a Teams Chat group on their own with the same result.

OneNote: If an instructor creates Groups, students can have text-chat discussions and share files.  Students can meet online using web conferencing tools.

O365/OneDrive: If student share documents, they can communicate through comments and co-edit documents.

Whenever possible, create assignments that can be completed using digital tools (otherwise, see How do I have my students upload an image?).  Using these tools, you and your students will be able to draw over content including text and images (e.g. draw over an image of a cell, chemical structure, a music staff, etc.).  This means you can create worksheets that students can fill out by drawing.

OneNote (Class Notebook): Designed to function as an electronic version of a paper notebook, you can draw on any page. If you use the OneNote app on a tablet, it’s even easier.

PowerPoint - The maximum size of a PowerPoint slide is 56 in x 56 in.  That’s one big canvas. If you don’t see the Draw tab, on a PC you can add it to the ribbon. Right-click the Home tab, select Customize the Ribbon, check Draw in the right selection-window, and OK.  Additionally, users can use the online O365 version which has a basic Draw tab by default.

Word /Excel- On a PC, the Draw tab may only be available using the full version (i.e. not the online O365 version).  To add the tab to the ribbon, right-clicking the Home tab, select Customize the Ribbon, check Draw in the right selection window, and OK.  The Draw tab should be visible by default on a Mac.

Whether you need to upload an image/picture/drawing, you can use the upload file features of Moodle, Teams, or OneDrive.  Once uploaded, the file can be shared by link.

Print Item: The easiest way to convert a print item (or other physical item) is to take a picture with a smartphone, tablet, or webcam. One can also get the image file by using a scanner. The image file can then by downloaded/upload/emailed. 

Whether a video is created on a computer, smartphone, or camcorder, once a video is uploaded, it can be shared by posting the video link in Moodle, Teams, or even by email.

Relay- The best place to upload and share videos is Relay. Videos created using a Smartphone or Tablet can be upload to Relay using the Fuse app.

Stream- You can upload and share videos using Microsoft Stream.

OneDrive- Although you can share any file (including videos) from OneDrive, this is by far the worst option available using campus tools.

Smartphone/Tablet- If you have a digital device, you can upload videos directly to Relay using the Fuse app (free).

Camcorder- If you have a digital camera, you can upload videos to Relay/Stream as long as they’re in the MP4 format.

Word/OneNote/PowerPoint- If participants login to O365 and use the same document (Word, OneNote, PowerPoint, etc.), everyone can work on the document together.