Fostering Collaboration Among Young Students Using Digital Tools

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you consider having young students collaborate using digital tools? For many educators, it’s phrases like “difficult to manage,” “too hard for young learners,” and “I don’t want to do that.” Collaboration can be a scary word when it comes to the youngest students, but it doesn’t have to be. Collaboration is an essential skill that we need to promote in school, and it needs to start early.

In fact, global collaborator is one of the student standards for the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). These tenets provide the road map to ensure that our students are prepared as digital learners for the future that awaits them. This particular standard states that “students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.”

That can seem like a lot to bite off. So ISTE further defines the standard into four indicators:

• 1.7.a Global Connections: Using digital tools to connect with learners from different backgrounds and cultures
• 1.7.b Multiple Viewpoints: Using technology tools to work with others and see different viewpoints
• 1.7.c Project Teams: Having different roles to accomplish a shared goal
• 1.7.d Local and Global Issues: Using collaborative technology to explore local and global issues

ISTE also breaks these indicators down into age bands. They include ages 4–7, 8–11, and 12–18. Each age band further scaffolds what each of these indicators can and should look like. When we consider the global collaborator indicators in the 4–7 band, they include these gigantic five words: “with guidance from an educator.”

What does “with guidance from an educator” mean? In my practice as an elementary school technology coach, this is an area that I have struggled with, but I don’t want you to have these same struggles. I have identified two concrete strategies I will share with you that address this very question. These two scaffolded strategies help you to provide your students with just the right amount of guidance to get them started with collaboration. They are turn-taking collaboration and color-coded collaboration.

Turn-Taking Collaboration

Turn-taking collaboration is an extremely scaffolded approach to collaboration. It involves using a tech tool where each student has a specific role, and they only have access to that role while collaborating. Each student works on their part on their own screen, and when they are finished, the tech tool combines their work into a product.

An example of turn-taking collaboration is Pear Deck Flashcard Factory. Using this free tool, one student acts as the artist and uses drawing tools to illustrate the concept being explored, while the other student acts as the writer and uses text tools to explain the same concept. Many times, I use this turn-taking collaboration tool for math, but it can be used for any subject. I have used this tool with students as young as kindergarten and they love it. They view it as being “game-like.”

The students log in using a link to joinpd.com and then enter a six-letter random code provided by the teacher. Once all students have logged in, the Foreman, I call him Peary Foreman, randomly partners them up, and their roles switch back and forth. Once each student finishes their role, they ship their “flash card,” and it falls onto a conveyor belt that is displayed on the projector.

Color-Coded Collaboration

Color-coded collaboration is a slightly less scaffolded approach. Students have access to each other’s digital spaces but are guided by a color system to stay on their own individual digital space. One student is Team Red and should only work on the red-colored pages, while the other student is Team Blue and should only work on the blue-colored pages. Using this system helps students learn to respect each other’s digital work. In addition, their roles are very defined—each student completes an initial task and then has a guided response to their partner’s work to complete as well.

I have used several tech tools for color-coded collaboration. My two favorite ones are paid tools—Wixie and Book Creator—but free tools such as Adobe Express, Canva, and Google Slides could work as well. The reason I prefer the two paid tools is that these tools are very user-friendly for our youngest learners and have easily recognizable icons. They also include multiple ways to respond, including text, speech to text, audio, video, and drawing tools.

One example of this type of activity is my “Make Your Own Aquarium” team project. Students first create their own personalized aquarium on their initial pages. Then they share with their partner what they liked about their aquarium on their second colored page.

Our young learners can collaborate—we just need to give them the tools they need to be successful.