Introducing a collaborative technology strategy for higher education students: Recommendations and the way forward

The area of group work and group based technology research is of value in that group and team work skills are seen as important to both industry and education. However, research also shows that there are major issues that have to be considered when introducing group work to organisations. These issues which include cultural, social, technological and educational are considered within this research. The purpose of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of the attitudes of university students to group work and group based technology. Group work and group based technologies were also considered in an industry setting as this was seen as an important pre-requisite to the study of student group work. The outcome of this paper is, based on the findings of the author’s research, and proposes a set of conclusions and recommendations for the introduction of group work and group based technology into the Higher Education environment. To this end it is important to recount the research process that led to the production of these recommendations. In order to further this research a substantial literature review was undertaken as was an industry survey and a student based case study.