Online tools for group projects

Students are probably used to online learning at this point but no one could have predicted that they'd be doing all of their schooling—not just learning but group work too—virtually. Fortunately, the switch to practically full-time virtual learning happened at a time when we have a ton of online tools for group projects to make things easier.

While students may soon be heading back to in-person learning, these online tools make collaboration much easier when the group can't get together in person.

Brainstorming

At Ting Internet, our teams use tools like Google Jamboard and Miro to collaborate and brainstorm ideas while we work remotely.

These tools are fun and engaging and they help keep notes and feedback in one place for easy review. Using color coding and shapes makes it easy to keep track of tasks or comments and watching your fellow classmates' cursors move around the screen in real-time makes it feel like a truly collaborative effort.

These particular online tools for group projects are a great way to create mission statements, scope out a group project, vote on aspects of your work or project, and find areas or gaps you may need to work on.

Getting to work

With Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), students can make all their work visible and accessible to the group. Many schools use the education version of Google Workspace. If yours isn’t one, a free Google Account gives you similar access to Google Docs for word processing, Google Sheets for spreadsheeting, Google Slides for presentations and several other useful tools. In these browser-based applications, multiple users can access the docs and make changes in real-time.

Need tips to take your presentations to the next level? Check out our piece on how to make your presentations pop by Jess Brown of the Ting Internet Graphic Design team.

Group meetings

Group discussion can happen in the comments section of the online tools we've shared. To really get the group dynamic going though, a real-time video or audio call can make all the difference, making it the ideal online tool for group projects. At Ting Internet, some teams like to put on music in the background while group working or brainstorming to provide a pleasant vibe and allow creativity to flow freely.

You can start a Discord group for your project, chat in Zoom, message, create sub-groups, call and video chat in Slack, use WhatsApp, Google Meet, FaceTime or whatever everyone in the group can access to get the collaboration going.

While we're all a bit tired of video calls at this point, they really are the next best thing to getting together in person when that's not an option.

Online learning needs awesome internet

Online group work requires a lot of patience, resilience and a fast, reliable internet connection. Ting Internet is true fiber to the home internet access. Check your address to see if Ting Internet is available in your neighborhood.