Unit 3: Studying and working groups
| Website: | Virtueller Campus Thüringen |
| Kurs: | Digital Learning Kit - self learning course for studying with digital tools |
| Buch: | Unit 3: Studying and working groups |
| Gedruckt von: | Gast |
| Datum: | Mittwoch, 14. Oktober 2026, 04:27 |
List of contents
Mindmapping method
Strategies for learning and working groups
How do I work efficiently in groups?
Zoom functions for group work
Tools for collaborative work
What other tools help with group work?
In
order to work well together, you also need suitable tools. These are
available at the University of Jena and we would like to show you how
you can use them well.
The
Friedrich Schiller University of Jena has set up a cloud for its
students and staff to work together on assignments or study groups. This
cloud is a way to securely store and edit your documents and files.
OnlyOffice, a programme for online editing of documents, works on the
cloud. There you can work on documents together at the same time,
comment on them and much more. To do this, log in to the cloud.uni-jena.de
site with your URZ login ID and password and go to "Files" at the top
of the bar. Alternatively, the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
offers all students access to the Office 365 package to install Word and Excel free of charge.
The
cloud of the University of Jena is very extensive. Another function
that is good for group work is the Deck. You can also use this to
organize the work in the group according to the Kanban principle and to
distribute tasks and topics. This can be done, for example, according to
the basic principle "collect tasks - distribute tasks - complete
tasks". Take a look at the tutorial for using the Cloud Deck at the
University of Jena.
Zoom is also a good tool for group work. You will also find a tutorial on how to use it in this module.
Another new tool for group work is Mahara.
There you can find other students who are interested in similar topics
and form groups, e.g. for joint projects or homework. Mahara is also a
personal learning environment for documenting learning processes and
acquired knowledge with the help of portfolios. There are also already
existing interest groups for writing communities, tandems and also for
exchanges on the topics of the Digital Learning Kit.
Application
Since it’s one thing to receive tips and quite another to put them into practice, we’ve developed a reflection exercise for the Digital Learning Kit that you can use regularly—perhaps in conversation with a fellow student.
Take a look at the questions below as a conversation starter to help you discuss the module’s topics!
Further resources
Scientific literature:
Johnson, D. H., & Johnson, R. T. (1998). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning. Pearson.
Blog Posts:
Tips for Working in Teams and what to do if it isn’t working (University of Galway)
The 7 Stages of the Group Mind Mapping Process (ist ein Blog einer kommerziellen Projekt Management App)
Cloud of the University of Jena: https://cloud.uni-jena.de
Zoom of the University of Jena: uni-jena-de.zoom.us/
Tips for Using Zoom Team Chat in Your Student Group