Using a Cloud Based Collaboration Technology in a Systems Analysis and Design Course

TL;DR

This study explores integrating Google Drive into a Systems Analysis and Design course to enhance collaboration skills, student satisfaction, and learning outcomes, providing practical strategies and insights for educators.

Contribution

It introduces a structured approach to using cloud collaboration tools in higher education, including surveys, strategies, and evaluation methods to improve student engagement.

Findings

Students showed increased collaboration and engagement.

Teaching strategies improved student satisfaction.

Practical and theoretical insights for educators.

Abstract

In order to effectively prepare the next generation of IT professionals and systems analysts, it is important to incorporate cloud based online collaboration tools into the coursework for developing the students' cooperative skills as well as for storing and sharing content. For these pedagogical and practical reasons, Google Drive has been used at a medium-sized institution of higher education in New Zealand during the Systems Analysis and Design course. Ongoing and successful use of any learning technology requires gathering meaningful feedback from students, and acting as a mentor during their learning journey. This study has been developed and implemented to help students enjoy the collaborative technology and to help increase their satisfaction and commitment. In order to overcome the obstacles that may prevent students from using Google Drive optimally, an initial survey has been conducted to better understand the influential factors and issues. Furthermore, this study aims at promoting various types of collaboration and sharing: seeing and learning from other students' work, receiving direct suggestions from others, and allowing others to edit documents that belong to them. Following the results of the first quantitative survey, numerous teaching strategies were formulated and implemented. A final qualitative survey was done at the end of the course for students to evaluate their project work. The results of this study also provide original practical and theoretical implications that may be of interest to other researchers, course designers, and teachers.