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Enhancing Communication and Collaboration for Students 

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Enhancing Communication and Collaboration for Students 

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Video example showing the importance of communication and collaboration in the classroom

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Edutopia helps discover practical tips and strategies for grades PreK-12. Teachers also get personalized weekly newsletters and a website experience that guides them in different ways to have a better classroom experience.

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Giving students some say over what happens in class can promote engagement and a strong sense of community.

Jim West / Alamy Stock Photo (16)

One of the most powerful ways to impact achievement is to actively engage students in the life of the classroom. Although educators know that our students' contributions are vital to the learning process, educator and author Alexis Wiggins was surprised to observe that many students "feel like a bit of a nuisance all day long." As teachers, we have the capacity to change our students' experiences if we design lessons that prioritize student voice and participation.

Elevating student voice is critical for many reasons. For one thing, as Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey write, "The amount of talk that students do is correlated with their achievement." There are strategies teachers can use to elevate student voice in order to strengthen relationships, foster a sense of belonging, increase engagement, and inform instruction.

Begin Class With a Welcoming Ritual

Students arrive to class with their minds swirling about failed quizzes, mounting pressure about homework assignments, and concerns about interactions with their peers. In order to help them clear these distractions from their minds, we might begin class with a predictable routine.

Students might share "breaking news" or "what's on the top of your mind?" in pairs, with small groups, or with the whole class. This welcoming ritual allows students to release their most pressing thoughts and create space for new experiences. It also builds relationships between students as they share a little bit of themselves with their peers. Welcoming rituals foster a sense of belonging as the classroom becomes a place that accepts students not only for who they are but where they are at a particular moment.

This brief share might transition directly into an opening activity that connects to the learning of the day. Together, students might consider an essential question, share responses to a short quote or passage, or take time to reflect on the previous day's learning. Opening class with an emphasis on student engagement rather than passive compliance prioritizes student voice and places students at the center of the learning experience.

Plan Consistent Opportunities for Student Voice

When will students collaborate to problem-solve, devise higher-order questions, contribute to the creation of a product, or otherwise actively grapple with a lesson's meaning?

How often are students offered the opportunity to speak at the front of the room, write on the board, or conduct demonstrations on the document camera?

When are students writing for an audience beyond the classroom?

Do students have choices regarding the work they're doing?

If (and in what ways) are students prompted to connect what they're learning in the classroom to their lives outside of school?

During the planning stage, prioritize active engagement and student voice by asking yourself:

Ideally, our classrooms would be places where students not only gain knowledge but also discover who they are and who they want to be. The only way students will come to these realizations is through both independent and collaborative explorations in which they add their voices to the conversation. Prioritizing student voice strengthens a sense of belonging, as the learning experiences are co-created by students and teachers.

Ask Students About Their Lives Beyond The Classroom

We need to show our students that we value who they are and understand the complexities of their lives. Some students will clearly make themselves known while others will fade into the background if we let them-so we need to intentionally interact with all students. These moments of listening and sharing with students reinforce belonging and build relationships.

We can do this while greeting students when they enter the classroom, while conferring with small groups, and while conferencing with individual students. We can schedule "lunch and learn" sessions or invite students to help us hang student work or otherwise contribute to the logistics of the classroom during their study halls or lunch periods.

When students know we value what they have to say, they're more likely to share their thoughts and insights. It may seem like we don't have time to engage with every student, but we don't have time not to. As John Hattie reminds us, "A positive, caring, respectful climate in the classroom is a prior condition to learning." Strong teacher-student relationships bolster students' confidence to share their voices.

Ask for Student Feedback-and Use It

Another important way to elevate student voice is to ask for feedback. As much as we wish we could, we will never know what it really feels like to be a student in our classrooms, and our students hold many of the answers we seek. We can ask them for feedback throughout the year and (when feasible) implement their suggestions. Student feedback not only informs instruction, it conveys that we value their insight, and that their voices are at the center of the work that we do.

When we listen to and honor our students, we can show them that their voices can be powerful instruments of learning for themselves and others-and levers of change in their classrooms and beyond.

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Simple Ways to Promote Student Voice in the Classroom

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Giving students some say over what happens in class can promote engagement and a strong sense of community.

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- Collaboration refers to students' ability to work with others to accomplish a goal and sharing group responsibilities. This can be done to multiple media outlets, for example, Prezi. Prezi allows students to work together on a single presentation.
- Presentation is a great outlet to see collaboration because students can take up different roles within the assignment depending on their strong suits and understanding of the subject matter.

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Got a project you're working on? In Prezi Present, you can work together with other users on a single presentation. What's more, you can add comments to specific areas or objects to communicate feedback or ask questions.

Once you create a presentation, you can add users to edit, comment, or present your presentation. You can also set a presentation's privacy to allow only collaborators and people with a view link to access your presentation.

Adding collaborators

To start collaborating on a presentation, its owner must first give users rights to edit, comment, or view. Please note that collaborators need a Prezi license to be able to edit a presentation.

1. From the dashboard, click the cogwheel in the thumbnail of a presentation to get the detailed view screen.

2. Click the Collaborators icon in the top-right corner of your screen. Alternatively, you can click the three dots in a presentation thumbnail and select Add collaborators.

3. You'll see the "Collaborators" pop-up window with the list of current collaborators.

4. Enter the name or email of the collaborator you wish to add, then select their rights.

5. Click Add when you're done.

You can also add a collaborator while you're in the editor.

1. Click on the Share icon at the top of your screen, then select Collaborate.

2. You'll see the "Collaborators" pop-up window with the list of current collaborators.

3. Enter the name or email of the collaborator you wish to add, then select their rights

3. Click Add when finished, then Done to close the pop-up.

Adding your entire team as a collaborator

Part of a Prezi team? You also have the option of adding everyone in your team as a collaborator at once. Simply choose "Anyone on the team" in the collaborator dialogue and choose the presentation rights for your team members.

Removing collaborators

If you change your mind and would like to remove a user from your presentation, it's easy. You can also decide to give them rights to only present or only make comments.

1. From the dashboard, click the three dots (...) in the thumbnail of a presentation to get the detailed view screen.

2. Click the Collaborators icon in the top-right corner of your screen. Alternatively, you can click the arrow icon in a presentation thumbnail and select Add collaborators.

3. You'll see the "Collaborators" pop-up window with the list of current collaborators.

4. Click the user's rights located next to the person's name to remove or change their rights.

5. Choose the rights you want to give for the presentation, or select Remove from presentation to remove the user completely.

6. When finished, close the pop-up window.

Adding and viewing comments

Prezi Present allows your team to collaborate more quickly and efficiently using comments. Now you can give feedback on work directly where it matters.

1. From the editor, select the object, text, or area where you want to add a comment.

2. Click the comment icon in the context toolbar to get the pop-up window or right-click (CTRL/CMD + click) on the canvas.

3. Type your comment in the field and hit ENTER. You'll see yellow dot appear where the comment was made.

Any user who has permission to edit the presentation can add or reply to a comment. If a presentation has any comments, all users who have commented in the thread will be notified by email and if integration has been added, by Slack. Moreover, a yellow dot will appear wherever a comment has been made on the presentation and in the left sidebar.

To see all comments, click on the comments icon in the top toolbar next to the "Present" button. For a comprehensive look at using comments in Prezi Present, check out this article.

Co-editing a presentation

You can add any team members to co-edit a single presentation. You can see the number of co-editors in a presentation next to the person icon in the upper right corner of the editor.

To add co-editors or change collaborating rights, simply click on the icon to get the pop-up. Then follow the directions listed above on how to add collaborators.

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Got a project you're working on? In Prezi Present, you can work together with other users on a single presentation. What's more, you can add comments to specific areas or objects to communicate feedback or ask questions. Once you create a presentation, you can add users to edit, comment, or present your presentation.

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Communication Resources - For Students  

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Communication Resources - For Students  

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- Requires strong listening and evaluation skills in order to aid in collaboration. This can be enhanced through notetaking with the use of the software called One-Note. Here students can share ideas and be organized in their thinking.
- Students need to practice verbal and written messages. If assigned a book or article for students to read, concise notetaking with short written bullet points can help them discuss what they learned. Communication will be better enhanced in a more focuses way.

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In class, in your room, in a computer lab or in a coffee shop-you can work together from anywhere on any device. OneNote automatically syncs to keep it all together for you, even if someone goes offline.