UniConnect: A Hosted Collaboration Platform for the ... · Research CSCW, e.g. in regards to adoption, gamification, social analytics Teaching Cours material for lectures and exercises

© 2015 Institute of IS Research, Chair of Business Software Research, Prof. Dr. Petra Schubert | 1 Söhnke Grams

UniConnect: A Hosted Collaboration

Platform for the Support of Teaching

and Research in Universities

22nd of May 2015, 3rd International IBM Cloud Academy

Conference, Budapest, Hungary

Söhnke Grams

University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

Institute of IS Research

Business Software Research Group (Prof. Dr. Petra Schubert)

http://bas.uni-koblenz.de


Agenda

Introduction of UCT

UniConnect platform

Use Cases: Education

Use Cases: Research Projects

Benefits and Disbenefits

Summary

Research CSCW, e.g. in regards to adoption, gamification, social analytics

Teaching Cours material for lectures and exercises as corporate strategic planning simulation

UniConnect Hosted collaboration platform for universities based on IBM Connections with blogs, wikis, activities, etc.

Members Community consists of lecturers, professors and students

University Competence Center for

Collaboration Technologies

Powered by

www.UCT.de


Computer Supported Cooperative Work - CSCW

Interdisciplinary research area

IT, sociology, psychology, human factor science, organizational science, anthropology, ethnography, business information systems, economics and more

Teamwork and the equivalent supportive information and communication technologies, like Groupware or Enterprise 2.0

(Hasenkamp/Syring 1994)

“Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers”

(McAfee, 2006)

Research CSCW, e.g. in regards to adoption, gamification, social analytics

Teaching Cours material for lectures and exercises as corporate strategic planning simulation

UniConnect Hosted collaboration platform for universities based on IBM Connections with blogs, wikis, activities, etc.

Members Community consists of lecturers, professors and students

University Competence Center for

Collaboration Technologies

Powered by

www.UCT.de


UniConnect

UniConnect is a fully functional collaboration system

Based on the IBM Collaboration Suite

Operated in a cloud infrastructure located at the University of

Koblenz-Landau, Germany

Only available for individuals from registered universities and

other educational organizations

Authorized members are University staff and students

They have access to project communities that provide an

environment for research and teaching.


UniConnect Apps

Blogs

Wiki

Tags

Social Profile

Calendar

Messenger

Newsletter

Gallery

Activity

Forums

Library

Bookmarks

Chat

Update Stream

Kudos

Community (closed or open)


UniConnect: Members


Use Case: Standard Lecture

Weekly lectures with a physical presence

Submission of an assignment (paper) and/or write an

exam at the end of the semester

Members:

All enrolled students

Lecturers

Lifecycle of the community:

Created at the start of the semester and closed at the end of the

semester
















Use Case: Thesis Seminar

Each two weeks lectures with a physical presence

Continuing community

Members:

All students who are writing a thesis at the research group

Mentors and professors


Opened once and won’t be closed

Constant flow of students who join the community when they start

their thesis and leave the community when the thesis is

successfully submitted






Use Case: Thesis Community

Members:

One student who writes a thesis at the research group

Mentors

Sporadic physical meetings according to the students and

advisors needs


Created at the start of the thesis and closed after the successful

submission






Use Case: Research Project


Use Case: Research Project


Benefits for the UniConnect Community

The cloud infrastructure is

maintained by the UCT team

All uploaded information is kept in

a safe private cloud system which

cannot be accessed by externals

Each invited user of a private

community can read entries of

other community members, is

able to participate in discussions

and benefit from the established

pool of knowledge

Each Community can be

customized to support the given

case

Lecturers can reach students and

vice versa at any given time,

independent of consultation time

or amount of participants, without

causing a massive amount of

emails or additional time

exposure

UniConnect creates a modern

teaching and learning culture

parallel to scheduled courses


Benefits for the UniConnect Community

By using UniConnect which is based on IBM Connections,

students get valuable insights and experience with a business

relevant software during their studies

Disbenefits of using UniConnect

It’s not yet possible to add community members automatically,

e.g. all officially enrolled students

Students have to register manually


Summary

Benefits for science and the UCT

Benefits for students and lecturers

Benefits for researcher

Benefits for IBM


Thank you for your attention

Söhnke Grams

University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

Institute of IS Research

Chair of Business Software Research, Prof. Dr. Petra Schubert

http://bas.uni-koblenz.de

Documents

UniConnect: A Hosted Collaboration Platform for the ... · Research CSCW, e.g. in regards to adoption, gamification, social analytics Teaching Cours material for lectures and exercises