The Importance of Collaboration in Higher Education

One of the biggest concerns students have when it comes to online education is losing the experience of interacting with their peers and professors because collaboration is often so integral to success in their future workplaces. In the past, online learning platforms have struggled to recreate these interactive environments that students value so much in traditional classes, but new technologies are now addressing the issue and created a collaborative online environment.

Advances in technology, particularly with respect to videoconferencing, have changed the way courses are taught online. Learning management systems like Moodle now allow professors to build courses with real interactive elements, ranging from message boards and group wiki pages to real time streaming video and collaborative assignments and presentations. Much of this technology is open source and allows for developers to continue building add-ons that facilitate interaction.

As education continues to shift towards online learning, a collaborative environment becomes more and more important for a number of reasons...