Using Notion to Support Communication and Collaboration
Designing high-quality educational content requires collaboration between professionals who possess diversified skill sets, including writers, editors, graphic designers, instructional designers, subject matter experts, and so on. Orchestrating a smooth production system that incorporates everyone’s skills, while also accounting for revisions, approvals, and external party feedback, requires constant communication and transparency. For example, if the instructional designer does not get their latest draft of content to their editor, they may miss a deliverable deadline with their stakeholder. In another instance, if the instructional designer and editor are waiting on feedback from their stakeholder to move forward with implementation, but the stakeholder does not know that the feedback deadline is approaching, all parties involved will feel that the project timeline is unclear. By implementing mobile technology like Notion, instructional designers can improve their communication and collaboration internally, as well as with external stakeholders (Bai, 2019).
Notion (Your connected workspace, n.d.) is a digital collaboration space that can support teams working remotely and in-house. Its utilization can eliminate uncertainty on the lifecycle and path of collaborative projects. This includes clearing confusion on what a project’s multiple steps or phases are, what the timeline is, and who is responsible for each component of the project. Notion can improve the accessibility to information on projects from any wifi-enabled device. Any solution that prioritizes quick communication between multiple parties should consider mobile access (Marin, 2011; Sharma, et al., 2022). Notion is accessible by web browser, desktop app (for PC and Mac), and/or by mobile application (iOS and Android). Notion’s core features are free to use, and anyone can create an account to view user-created Notion boards for free. Some features such as creating a “team workspace” on Notion are behind a paywall.
In order to effectively implement Notion with a team, it is important to follow the following steps and guidelines. First, establish what projects the team will be tracking with the tool. Identify what elements of the project are crucial to track such as dates and timelines, assigned responsibilities, task organization, resource management, and sprint tracking. Next it is beneficial to establish a hierarchy and organization of projects. It must be determined if each project needs its own workspace or if it serves the team better to organize the projects on one complex Kanban board. Next it should be determined who has access to the Notion workspace. Every team member probably needs access to the workspace and system of boards, but does every stakeholder need to see the internal workings of a project? At this time, it is important to determine what to share and what to keep private. Procedures should be planned for the addition of new projects and how projects are closed out. Team members should come to agreement on what the lifecycle of a project tracker looks like. All of these steps and guidelines should be formally documented with additional notes on why they help optimize the process and how they prioritize efficiency without compromising on budget and data security (Marin, 2011).
In utilizing any mobile technology, ethical considerations must be made (Sharma, et al., 2022). Part of Notion’s functionality enables users to “tag” other members of their team in tasks, blocks and projects by name. Users can also see when other team members have last read or viewed a task, block or project. While this can improve accountability for all team members, this also has the potential to create tension if team members begin to feel that one or multiple members of their team are not meeting their responsibilities. This can be mitigated by establishing which members of the team will be responsible for each task and component at the onset of a project, and regularly checking in as a team to ensure that no one feels unduly burdened. Notion boards are set to “private” by default until a team member invites another member to the team, either by sending them an email invite or adding their email to the team list. This has the potential to be exploited by parties that could capitalize off of private information, or mishandled by team members that do not understand the importance of data privacy (Sharma, et al.). This can be mitigated by establishing a “team leader” or administrator for the Notion board at the onset of the project, and working with that administrator to manage the permissions of each team member’s user profile. Designated administrators can moderate who is allowed to invite users to the Notion board.
Conclusion
The utilization of mobile technology aids in communication and collaboration during the project management process (Marin, 2011). Notion is an all-in-one collaborative workspace that can be accessed anytime and anywhere. It is a cloud-based project management and organizational tool that seamlessly syncs to all devices, creating a space for cross-functional teams to work and collaborate. It connects people who may be working on opposite sides of the globe and in different time zones. Its features include task-management capability through the use of Kanban boards that can be shared and accessed by specific individuals within the team. Teams who utilize Notion would have equal access to project deadlines and continuous connectivity to each other. Notion supports the ability to communicate within the platform providing opportunities for teams to share timely feedback on deliverables in real time. The mobility and connectivity of this technology supports team’s needs and busy schedules.
References
Bai, H. (2019). Pedagogical Practices of Mobile Learning in K-12 and Higher Education Settings. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 63(5), 611–620. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00419-w
Marin, A. (2011). On Innovation through Access to Technology in Project Management. Case Study. Managerial Challenges of the Contemporary Society, 2, 169–172.
Sharma, S., Kumari, B., Ali, A., Yadav, R., Sharma, A., Sharma, K., Hajela, K., & Singh, G. (2022). Mobile technology: A tool for healthcare and a boon in pandemic. Journal of Family Medicine & Primary Care, 11(1), 37–43. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1114_21
Your connected workspace for wiki, docs & projects. Notion. (n.d.). https://www.notion.so/
