Online collaboration requires a range of skills, particularly when design activities are being conducted in realtime. This presentation identifies some of the skills students need, but sometimes do not have, in order to collaborate through videoconferencing.

1. Supporting online collaboration
for design
2: How students perform in online
synchronous environments

2. Mark Childs
Senior Researcher,
Loughborough University

3. BIM-Hub project
• Based on a project funded by HP Catalyst 2011 – 2012,
• Funded by HEA, runs 2013 to 2014
• Loughborough University, Coventry University, Ryerson
University (Canada)
• Teams of students architecture, structural engineers
and construction managers
• Design a building (sem. 1 and submit report (sem. 2)
• Use GoToMeeting for synchronous and students’
choice for asynchronous

4. Also …
Of appeal to students because
• Motivating
• Authentic experience
• Transferable skills
• Perception of improved employability

5. IPO – Transactional Distance
(Source: Soetanto et al. 2012, 2014)

6. V. Skills for online
IV. Skills for
online
synchronous
collaboration
collaboration
III. Skills for
collaboration
II. Support for
collaboration
I. Design of learning activities
for subject discipline
0. Professional and institutional/
pedagogical requirements.

7. Lessons students learn from working
online …
… that we thought were self-evident
• Not breaking off for private conversations.
• Effectively supplementing face-to-face behaviours to
compensate for less physical presence.
• Chairing meetings formally so that only one person
speaks at the same time.
• Planning and structuring meetings.
• Ensuring everyone is included.
• Eliminating echo.
• Taking into account students with disabilities.
• Don’t work in unsuitable areas.

8. Developing ability in online meetings
Improved over time (but correlation not causation)
• Applying meeting management techniques;
scheduling, agendas, action points.
• Improvement in IT skills.
• Developing a greater understanding of the task.
• Reification through creation of models.
• Developing presence in online meetings.
However …
• Inauthenticity of virtual connections.
• Lack of socialisation.

9. Developing Presence in GoToMeeting
• Early stages; talk offline, limited use of
applications, (also note echo)
– demo of stage 1.wmv
• Ah-ha moments, groups choose to clarify by
showing on screen
– demo of stage 2.wmv
• Experienced users, gesture, switch between
applications, modify in realtime
– demo of stage 3.wmv

10. Example of GoToMeeting

11. Creating presence

12. Developing presence in meetings
• Getting the technology right.
• Fluency with software.
• Online etiquette.
• Don’t tell, show.
• Keep the conversation on screen not offline.
• Doodle
• Modify each others’ work
• Make an appearance
• Socialise

13. Next step in analysis
• Loughborough students were two cohorts,
one for semester one, a different set for
semester two.
• We anticipate seeing difficulties specific to
new users entering an existing dynamic of
competent users.
• Was hoping to present that here too, but ran
out of time.

14. BIM-Hub team
Loughborough: Robby Soetanto (PI), Mark Childs,
Jacqui Glass, Zulfikar Adamu, Chinwe Isiadinso
Coventry: Stephen Austin
Ryerson : Paul Poh, Dmitri Knyazev
Project evaluators: Harry Tolley, Helen MacKenzie
Thanks to Hewlett Packard and UK Higher
Education Academy for funding this initiative

15. http://bim-hub.lboro.ac.uk/

16. Further information
 http://bim-hub.lboro.ac.uk/
 Twitter: @oc4d1
 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Online-
Collaborative-Design-7469178
 Email cvmc@lboro.ac.uk
 Reference: Soetanto, R., Childs, M., Poh, P., Austin, S and Hao,
J. (2014) Virtual collaborative learning for building design,
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers:
Management, Procurement and Law 167 February 2014 Issue
MP1, Pages 25–34