What tools are there that will help with group working?
Students at the University of Derby can access a range of useful Office 365 programs through the Office 365 tab on UDO. This includes access to regularly used apps such as, Word, PowerPoint and Excel as well as access to apps that can help with group work including Teams and To Do.
One of the best features with the Office 365 package is the ability to edit work collaboratively at the same time across multiple devices. This means that a group can all be working using the same document simultaneously.
There is guidance on using apps within Office 365 on the Office 365 tile on UDO.
Teams
Teams is an essential app for group working. Teams allows you to create a team where you can message your group, share and collaboratively edit files, and run video/audio meetings. This means that you can coordinate group work at a distance.
Within a team you can create sub teams by making channels. Channels allow you to split the task into sections and have discussions within a sub team without notifying people outside of the channel. Within each channel you can upload files, message and meet with the members of the sub team.
For guidance on using teams, see the IT KnowledgeBase or view the Microsoft Teams section of the Office 365 page on UDO.
To Do
To Do is a task manager app that is accessible through the Office 365 tile on UDo. To Do lets you create a to do list for your group project. You can use this to store the actions created in meetings and to set deadlines. These can be sorted into folders and can be shared with other team members through To Do.
To Do is a good way of keeping track of progress, next steps and deadlines. On each task you can add notes detailing the actions that you need to complete.
For information on how to use To Do see the video within the resources section of this guide.