Valentina's+Essay

FALE/UFMG, Belo Horizonte, March 2012

**Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.**

It is evident how, nowadays, technologies play a basic role in many aspects of our everyday life. Especially at school, technologiacal tools became a fundamental part of teaching, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work, deciding and assigning member's tasks, improving, in this way, collaborative working. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school, with a special focus on on the helpful role that technologic tools have in collaborative working for school projects. The main problem of group work has always been the organization of face-to-face meetings that every member can attend, especially in the hurried and busy modern life. And it is here that technologies came into play to solve the problem. Thanks to them, in fact, group members can interact one with the other at any time of the day, in any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for exemple with Skype), students menage their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative working, optimizing their time and respecting deadlines.Another seriuous problem collaborative work is dealing with otheer group members. People are different n culture, way of thinking, working and behaving; some are "leaders" while others are too shy to express ideas or opinions. Technologies can facilitate this interaction problem. Using social network, chats or websites (as wikis) the shyest group members are supported in expressing their points of views and ideas with less ansiety or fear, because the contribution of every single meber is fundamental for the group.The third positive aspect of technologies is thier "democracy". Indeed, students can download from the internet a great number of completely free tools that, for this reason, are accesible to everyone. It is also known that, at the present time, every school has computers availables for students' use and many cities has free wireless connections in public places, in order to allow and facilitate the use of technologies for everybody.The "democratic" aspect explained above is stricltly connected with another great advantage of the use of technologies in collaborative work. Thanks to technologies, in fact, can shared their knowledges, researches and projects with the whole world, being a useful source of informationfor others or, on the countrary, they can easily find the information they need through other people's works. In conclusion, it is evident how technological tools are an important ally in student's group work. Thanks to their help, in fact, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having much more sources of informations, organization and presentation of their project. Improving their work and developing it in a less amount of time, students will have great chances of reaching an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life.

__**1st Correction**__ //Hi Valentina, I really liked your essay. You're able to express your thoughts clearly connecting them with the theories studied. I've only made a few corrections and some suggestiond that I think would improve your text.//

**Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.**

It is evident //**the part technologies**// play, //**nowadays**//, //**which is**// a basic role in many aspects of our everyday life. Especially at school, technologiacal tools //**have**// became a fundamental part of teaching, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work//**s**//, deciding and assigning member's tasks, improving, in this way, collaborative work. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school, with a special focus on on the helpful role that technologic tools have in collaborative //**work in**// school projects.

The main problem of group work has always been the organization of face-to-face meetings that //**not**// every member can attend, especially in the hurried and busy modern life. //**It is when**// technologies came //**in order**// to solve //**this especific**// problem. Thanks to them, in fact, group members can interact one with the other at any time of the day, at any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for exemple with Skype), students menage their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative working, optimizing their time and respecting deadlines. Another seriuous problem **//present in the//** collaborative work is dealing with //**other**// group members. People are different //**and so is their culture**//, //**their**// way of thinking, working and behaving; some are "leaders" while others are too shy to express ideas or opinions. Technologies can facilitate this interaction problem. Using social network, chats or websites (as wikis) the shyest group members //**are able to express**// their points of views and ideas with less ansiety or fear, the contribution of every single meber is fundamental for the group. The third positive aspect of technologies is //**their** **democratic characteristics**//. Indeed, students can download from the internet a great number of completely free tools that, for this reason, are accesible to everyone. It is also known that, at the present time, every school has computers availables for students' use and many cities //**have**// free wireless connections in public places, in order to allow and facilitate the use of technologies for every**one**. The "democratic" aspect explained above is stricltly connected with another great advantage of the use of technologies in collaborative work. Thanks to technologies, //**people can**//, in fact, share their knowledges, researches and projects with the whole world, being a useful source of informationfor //**to**// others or, on the countrary, they can easily find the information they need through other people's works.

In conclusion, it is evident how technological tools are an important ally in student's group work. Thanks to their help, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having much more sources of information, organization and presentation //**for**// their project. Improving their work and developing it in a //**small/short**// amount of time, students will //**be able** **to**// reach an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life.

**SECOND VERSION:** **Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.**

It all started on February 1946, when the scientists John Presper Eckert e John W. Mauchly, from the Electronic Control Company, created the first computer. Obviously, tecnhlogy has changed and improved really a lot from that day on. However, we could say that this was the actual beginning of the use of tecnhologies in people's life. Indeed, techonology has been introduced in many aspect of our everyday life, changing the way people used to work, interact, spend their spear time and, especially, study. In fact, it is in the academic enviroment that technological tools play a key role, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work, deciding and assigning member's tasks, improving, in this way, collaborative **working**. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school, with a special focus on the helpful role that technological tools have in collaborative work for school projects.

The main problem of group work has always been the organization of face-to-face meetings that every member can attend, especially in the hurried and busy modern life. But how can a group develop a project without meeting and discussing with all the members? It is at this point that technologies **came ** into play to solve the problem. Thanks to them, in fact, group members can interact **one with the other** at any time of the day, in any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for exemple with Skype), students **menage ** their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative **working **, optimizing their time and respecting deadlines. Another **seriuous ** problem of collaborative work is **dealing ** with other group members. As we all know, people are different and so are their **culture **, their way of thinking, working and behaving; some are "leaders", while others are too shy to express ideas or opinions. According to the author Anthony T. Atkins in his article //Collaborating online: digital strategies for group work,// technologies can facilitate this interaction **within ** group members. Using social networks, chats or websites (as wikis), the shyest students "may feel less inhibited to partecipate", __being able to express their points of views and ideas with less ansiety or fear: the contribution of every single member is fundamental for the group. __  **The third positive aspect ** of technologies is **thier ** "democratic" quality. Indeed, students can download from the internet a great number of completely free tools that, for this reason, are accessible to everyone. It is also known that, at the present time, every school has computers availables for students' use and many cities have free wireless **connections** in public places, in order to allow and facilitate the use of technologies for everyone. The "democratic" aspect explained above is stricltly connected with another great advantage of the use of technologies in collaborative work. Matt Barton and Karl Klint, in their article //A student's guide to collaborative writing tecnologies,// call it "social nature" of tecnhological tools. Thanks to technologies, in fact, students can share their knowledges, researches and projects with the whole world, being a useful source of information to others or, on the **countrary**, they can easily find the information they need through other people's works.

In conclusion, it is evident how technological tools are an important ally in student's group work. Thanks to their help, in fact, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having much more sources of information, organization and presentation for their project. Improving their work and developing it in a short amount of time, students will be able to reach an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life. Hence, we just have to thank Eckert and Mauchly for having started the tecnhological development that had improved (and also facilitate!) our lives.

**FINAL VERSION:**

**Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.**

It all started on February 1946, when the scientists John Presper Eckert e John W. Mauchly, from the Electronic Control Company, created the first computer. Obviously, technology has changed and improved really a lot from that day on. However, we could say that this was the actual beginning of the use of tecnhologies in people's life. Indeed, techonology has been introduced in many aspect of our everyday life, changing the way people used to work, interact, spend their spear time and, especially, study. As a matter of fact, it is in the academic enviroment that technological tools play a key role, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work, deciding and assigning member's tasks, with the final result of improving collaborative work. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school, with a special focus on the helpful role that technological tools have in collaborative work for school projects.

The main problem of group work has always been the organization of face-to-face meetings that every member can attend, especially in the hurried and busy modern life. But how can a group develop a project without meeting and discussing with all the members? It is at this point that technologies come into play to solve the problem. Thanks to them, in fact, group members can interact with one another at any time of the day, in any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for exemple with Skype), students manage their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative work, optimizing their time and respecting deadlines.

Another serious problem of collaborative work is to deal with other group members. As we all know, people are different and so are their cultures, their way of thinking, working and behaving; some are "leaders", while others are too shy to express ideas or opinions. According to the author Anthony T Atkins in his article //Collaborating online:// digital strategies for group work //,// technologies can facilitate this interaction among group members. Using social networks, chats or websites (as wikis), the shiest students "may feel less inhibited to partecipate". In this way, they are able to express their points of views and ideas with less anxiety or fear: the contribution of every single member is foundamental for the group.

One important positive aspect of technologies is their "democratic" quality. Indeed, students can download from the internet a great number of completely free tools that, for this reason, are accessible to everyone. It is also known that, at the present time, every school has computers availables for students' use and many cities have free wireless hot spots in public places, in order to allow and facilitate the use of technologies for everyone.

The "democratic" aspect explained above is stricltly connected with another great advantage of the use of technologies in collaborative work. Matt Barton and Karl Klint, in their article //A student's guide to collaborative writing tecnologies,// call it "social nature" of tecnhological tools. Thanks to Through technologies, in fact, students can share their knowledges, researches and projects with the whole world, being a useful source of information to others or, on the contrary, they can easily find the information they need through other people's works.

In conclusion, it is evident how technological tools are an important ally in student's group work. Thanks to Because of their help, in fact, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having much more sources of information, organization and presentation for their project. Improving their work and developing it in a short amount of time, students will be able to reach an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life. Hence, we just have to thank Eckert and Mauchly for having started the tecnhological development that had improved (and also facilitate!) our lives.

References:

Essay Outline

I. Introduction


 * Thesis Statement "advantages of the use of technologies at school or college, with a special focus on the helpful role that technological tools have in collaborative work for projects".
 * A. Subtopic: how to work toghether without face-to-face meetings
 * B. Subtopic: free tools and portability of tools
 * C. Subtopic: easy access to information

II. Body


 * A. Subtopic: organizing meetings = working toghether
 * A.1: work toghether in different places
 * A.2: optimizing time
 * A 3:.respecting deadlines
 * Transition
 * B. Subtopic: free tools and portability
 * B.1: accessible to all because thanks to free tools found on the web
 * B.2: computers in schools or libraries for who does not have one at home
 * B.3: hot spots in public places
 * Transition
 * C. Subtopic: easy access to information
 * C.1: "social nature" = sharing informations (both with students and experts)
 * C.2: found information even when not published (expert's blogs/ articles...)
 * C.3: optimizing time when walking to sources
 * Transition

III. Conclusion = Restate the thesis


 * FINAL VERSION:**

=**Technological tools: a students' ally in collaborative work.**=

Nowadays, it is evident how techonology is present in many aspects of our everyday life, having defenetelly changed the way people used to work, interact, spend their spear time and, especially, study. As a matter of fact, it is in the academic enviroment that technological tools play a key role, not just for teachers, but also for students. In fact, they have the opportunity of organizing better group work, deciding and assigning member's tasks, with the final result of improving collaborative work. The aim of this essay is to present some of the advantages of the use of technologies at school and college, with a special focus on the helpful role that technological tools have in collaborative work for projects. This advantages, which will be deepen along the text, elucidate how technologies can allow a group to work toghether, without the need of organizing face-to-face meetings; how the portability and the free access of tools can facilitate the group work; and, finally, how the access to information is much easier through the use of technologies. At least once in our academic life, everyone has been asked to develop a project through a group work, probably without any enthusiasm. Indeed, it is well known that working in a group is not easy. Especially in the hurried and busy modern life, the hardest thing is to organize face-to-face meetings, which all the members can attend. But how can a group develop a project without meeting and discussing with all the members? How can the project be set up? It is at this point that technologies come into play. With the help of technological tools, in fact, group members can interact with one another at any time of the day, in any place of the earth. Through e-mails, social networks (such as the famous Facebook or Twitter), or, in the best of the cases, through internet conferences (for instance with Skype), students can manage their work, assign tasks and improve collaborative work. In this way, they have the chance to work on their project in the most suitable place (for exemple at home, instead of at school) and moment (such as during the night, instead of the day). In other words, students can optimize their time and respct deadlines, having a greater opportunity to achieve an optimal result. Got to this point, i.e. had understood how to work in group without organizing face-to-face meetings, we need to know where these useful tools can be found. Here comes the Internet. As we all know, this invisible "web" is the Pandora`s box where we can find literally everything, including all the indispensable tools we need to develop our group project. Most of the tools can be directly used while surfing the internet, or, when this is not possible, can be dowloaded, completely free of charge. Because of this "democratic" aspect, i.e. their accessibility, everyone can benefit from these technologies to work collaboratively. In this way, each phase of the work can be organized (from the on-line meetings untill the final presentation), without wasting a cent. However, has to be kept in mind that, despite the current great diffusion of tecnhologies, not anyone has a computer or an internet connection at home. Fortunately, at the present time, the majority of schools or libraries has computers available for students` use. For those who has a notebook, instead, the access to technologies is even more easy. In fact, a great number of cities already has free wireless hot spots in the main public places (such as squares or parks), and those cities that still does not have any, are planning to fill this gap. So far, we have seen how to work collaboratively through the organization of on-line meetings and the use of free tecnhological tools found on the web. Nevertheless, has to be mentioned another important "democratic" aspect of tecnhologies. Matt Barton and Karl Klint, in their article on the use of technological tools in collaborative work, define this feature as "social nature" of tools. In fact, through these tecnhologies found on the internet, students can share their knowledges, research and projects, both with other students or also experts. In this way, a greater number of sources is available on the web (that can be on sites, on-line jurnals or blogs), in addition to the already existing printed ones. Last but not least, another practical advantage has to be reminded. Through the use if tecnhological tools, in fact, students do not need to literally "walk" in search of a source (as in libraries or shops), but just sit down in front of the computer and digit. Nor they have to "talk" to their sources by intrviewing them, but again, sit down in front of a computer and send them an e-mail. As in all the other phases that bring to the final version of the project, therefore, students can optimize their time, also when it comes to research for sources. In conclusion, it results evident how technological tools are an important and fundamental ally in student's group work. Because of their help, in fact, students can take full advantage of their abilities, both individually and collaboratively, having at their disposal a greater number of sources of information, organization and presentation for their project. Improving their work and developing it in a short amount of time, students will be able to reach an excellent final result, being aware of the fact that technological tools can be a useful support not just in academic enviroments, but also in many other aspects of everyday life. REFERENCES: BARTON M., KLINT K.., "A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies", article found in "Writing Spaces. Readings on writing" Vol 2, p. 320, 2011. ATKINS A.T., "Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work", in "Writing spaces. Readings on writing" Vol. 1, p. 235, 2010.