The purpose of this project was to compare various software/groupware and hardware options available for collaborative teamwork in online courses.

Ross, Ramage, & Rogers concluded that no single method was adequate to evaluate the richness of CSCW groupware tools and recommended a multiplicity of methods, theories, and perspectives. We incorporated these recommendations in our development of the evaluation matrix.  Dr. Goodwin has used and informally evaluated multiple applications in previous years of teaching advanced practice (MSN) nurses in online clinical informatics courses. This project builds on acquired informal knowledge by developing a formal process that selected, implemented, and systematically evaluated four different CSCW technologies to support online teamwork.  The evaluation process includes existing course assignment and grading components, standardized School of Nursing end-of-semester evaluation procedures, and multiple individual evaluation tools developed for this project. These developed tools include a CSCW rating form, peer reviewed team scores, and focus group interviews. Following the evaluations at the end of the Spring 2003 semester, this project will also do an exploratory content analysis of groupware archives.

Download   pdf version of evaluation matrix (image below)                              pdf version of the CSCW rating form                            pdf version of student's peer reviewed teamwork form