The following is a proposal for collaboraton between universites with the aim to improve curricula that require laboratory actvites. A methodology is suggested to implement an innovatve educatonal project involving the exchange of laboratory actvites. The exchange of laboratory actvites can be carried out on diferent levels of interacton, requiring diferent levels of complexity in setng up the actvites. | Journal of Technology and Science Education GOOGLE+ AS A TOOL FOR USE IN COOPERATIVE LABORATORY ACTIVITIES BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES Joan Puig-Ortz1, Rosa Pàmies-Vilà2, Jordi Ramon Martnez Miralles1 1 Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d’Enginyeria Mecànica. ETSEIB Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Departament d’Enginyeria Mecànica. ETSEQ 2 Spain , , Received December 2014 Accepted March 2015 Abstract The following is a proposal for collaboraton between universites with the aim to improve curricula that require laboratory actvites. A methodology is suggested to implement an innovatve educatonal project involving the exchange of laboratory actvites. The exchange of laboratory actvites can be carried out on diferent levels of interacton, requiring diferent levels of complexity in setng up the actvites. A frst experience was carried out in the area of machine design. Google+ was the chosen social network. A Google+ community was used to share academic material (notes, videos, actvity guides, etc.) and the actvity itself was carried out using Google Hangouts. The survey administered at the end showed the students' satsfacton with the experience. Keywords – Google+, Machine testng, Interuniversity cooperaton, New technologies, Social networks. ---------- 1 INTRODUCTION In order to prepare qualifed professionals capable of performing their actvity in the professional environment of the 21st century, educatonal insttutons are faced with the need to incorporate the new tools made available by informaton technologies (Conole & Alevizou, 2010). Experimentng in virtual environments is necessary to establish methods of learning that are atractve to students and that promote creatvity. However, we must not forget that these must stll be efectve learning tools. Social networks, commonly used for personal relatons among students, ofer a number of possibilites for educatonal use (Oberer & Erkollar, 2012; .
