In today’s world, it is imperative that educators take advantage of innovative technology that can help students learn. One way technology helps students learn is through collaboration. Collaboration has been a part of education for a long time. Group projects have always been utilized in schools to make students become comfortable working with others. Through collaboration, students are able to take on a more dynamic role, where they learn by interacting with their peers and sharing ideas to solve problems and work towards common goals. This has been shown to increase engagement, which will lead to better educational outcomes.

An article posted online by EdTech Magazine describes the necessity and effectiveness of integrating technology in educational settings to foster collaboration. This article addresses how during the pandemic, the distance-learning approach forced teachers to adapt and incorporate tech tools to facilitate online learning. Some of the tools the articles mentions are Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams. These programs, “…allowed students to work together on shared documents and communicate easily with their peers and educators” (Kolber). Having worked on shared group projects with Google Drive through online collaboration, I can confirm that tools like these are easy to use and extremely helpful for working with others remotely. Students can work together on projects, ask each other questions, have access to class material, and ask their teachers questions all from their computer. These tools are an extension of the classroom environment and give students a new medium to learn through that they can have access to from home. The article also mentions how FlipGird, PearDeck, and Minecraft: Education Edition are effective tools that foster collaboration and students have a lot of fun working with.

These tools are just some of the innovative technology that are used in education to foster collaboration. When used appropriately, these tools can help students build collaboration skills in a learning environment. They give teachers a new, digital mode to use in their classrooms that may be more effective than more traditional methods at getting students to work together. The possibilities and capabilities of educational technology are exciting for education and they will play a big part in schools going forward.