Tools for Virtual Brainstorming & Co-Creation: A Comparative Study of Collaborative Online Learning

Abstract

Collaboration is an intrinsic part of design education. Studies have shown that diversity of skill and composition of design teams is key to innovation and the creation of new knowledge. The unforeseen global coronavirus pandemic precipitated the adoption of many virtual learning tools that existed before but had low uptake. Teamwork and collaboration proved to be one of the toughest stipulations in the forced adoption of online learning. Our study presents a comparative analysis of three web-based applications used for online classes during this period. We recorded insights from the online classes, corroborated by a questionnaire post course completion. We found that easy learnability was a crucial factor for early adoption, but eventually, cross-functional features were given more importance. The flexibility of the tool adopted also affected student learning outcomes. Empathy with teammates and co-creative approaches were the two areas that were found deficient in the absence of live class interactions in the virtual learning mode.