Shared Documents for Group Work
Shared documents (or collaborative documents) allow two or more people to edit the same document simultaneously. You can use this for group work in Zoom classes to facilitate student learning and engagement. For ideas for activities and discussions, visit the Overview of Class Engagement page. If you are not familiar with breakout rooms, you can review this feature of Zoom on the Breakout Rooms page of this course. You can see an overview of shared documents here: Collaborative Documents (Instructional Design Team, UAF eCampus) Links to an external site..
Two of the most commonly used suites for collaboration are Google Drive and Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 has the benefits of being linked directly to your Emory account and having access to the full functionality of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, but Google Drive will likely be familiar to most students and have an easier learning curve while offering all the basic features of Microsoft products.
Google Drive
- Google Drive: Share and collaborate in My Drive Links to an external site.
- Sharing and Collaborating Using Google (Granite School District) Links to an external site.
- Group Work with Google Docs (Oakland University).pdf Download Group Work with Google Docs (Oakland University).pdf
Microsoft 365
- Microsoft Office: Document collaboration and co-authoring Links to an external site.
- Best practices for collaborating with Microsoft 365 Links to an external site.
- Collaborate on Microsoft Word documents with real-time co-authoring Links to an external site.
You can learn more about related services at Emory on the OneDrive for Business and the Office 365 services at Emory pages on the IT website.
Activity ideas
- Review and discuss a practice exam. Before class, assign groups to specific questions on a practice exam and link them to a shared document for them to work on those questions. After giving each group time to go over their questions at the beginning of class, you can review the exam together. Using shared documents allows students to collaboratively edit and correct their responses based on the class discussion.
- Finding sources for a project. Students can work together to start a literature review and/or compile a list of references.
- Completing a worksheet. Shared documents are a great way for students to work together to complete a worksheet.
For more ideas, see the Overview of Class Engagement page.