Using Shared Workspaces in Higher Education

The use of BSCW shared workspaces in higher education is evaluated by means of a comparison of seven courses in which this environment was used. A number of different functions for which the BSCW environment has been used are identified and the relative success of these functions across the cases is discussed. In addition, the cases are evaluated by means of a model that predicts the chances of acceptance of ICT in an educational setting. Effectiveness for a given task appears to be a prime success factor for using ICT, but an effective tool may fail due to other factors such as ease of use and organizational, socio-cultural or technological obstacles. The particular strength of a shared workspace, for which BSCW is most effective and efficient, is providing a repository for objects of collaborative work. Other types of usage showed mixed results.