Module 3: Collaboration
In education, collaborative learning is an educational approach involving a combined effort by students, to complete a task. I believe that people have the natural instinct to interact and work as a group. Collaboration validates what you are thinking. Sometimes we are not confident in what we are writing or saying. When you work with others, you have someone else there to say you are right or wrong and add on to what you are thinking, saying and writing. Rheingold, one of the driving minds behind open collaboration, in the TED video http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html, mentioned the alphabet and how it was kept a secret for the elite for thousands of years. Once the printing press came along, millions of people became literate due to the sharing of this knowledge. This shows if people share the proper knowledge, they can become a better society by working collaboratively. People now use computers and use collaboration on many projects in work and day to day life. With the social media websites on the internet, people work together by replying to what people posts and adding on what their thoughts are or knowledge of the subjects are. You might notice that it could be difficult to resist posting a reply to a post that you know is incorrect or that you can add on one more part to make their post better. It seems to be a natural thing to want to share your knowledge or help someone else with what you know about the topic being discussed. People are skilled or experts in different areas of subjects. I might be great at Mathematics and a friend might be an expert at English. If we collaborated on a lesson, it would be a much better lesson than if we worked separately.
We collaborate through email, blogs, social media, and wikis. We can form groups such as ebay to sell items and Wikipedia to share knowledge and expertise. This is a semi-new strategy of thinking to make us better. Collaborative learners believe that it increases the interest among the people involved and at the same time encourages critical thinking. According to Johnson and Johnson (1986), collaboration teams achieve a higher level of thought and retain the information for a longer period of time than people that work silently as individuals.
The advancement of technology helps to use collaboration within the workforce and in schools. People need to learn to work as, and make decisions as, a team. The development of critical-thinking skills through collaboration is one of the main goals with the use of technology in education. According to Vygotsky (1978), students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when using collaboration rather than working individually. With the use of collaboration, based on the basic ideas of the constructivist learning theory, the constructivist suggests that instruction must take students' prior ideas, experiences, and knowledge into account while giving the opportunities for students to construct new understanding.
Listed below are links to two studies about the benefits of collaboration, one concerning teacher collaboration and one concerning students.
References
Johnson, R. T., & Johnson, D. W. (1986). Action research: Cooperative learning in the science classroom. Science and Children, 24, 31-32.
Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Replied to:
I agree with you when you wrote that if people see the
benefit of collaborating, they tend to do so.
I can see that in me. I do not
like to work collaboratively but if it benefitted me I would. When I do work with others on a project, half
the time I do learn from the partners and am happy I worked with someone. The other half of the time, I do not feel
people contribute as much due to the fact that they feel they only need to put
in half the work that they normally do and then they always point out what part
they did to make sure everyone knows they did their part.
Karen
The statement you posted "Technology can facilitate the collaboration process by linking together individuals who share a common interest and goal" (Brown). is so true. I always seem to get better results with collaboration when the students have something in common. I often help students make new friends by putting them in collaboration with someone that they are not friends with and then say to them something like "John, did you know that Tyler plays ice hockey in Pittsburgh also?" Sometimes just one statement like that can help the students decide that they would be good together and they do excellent work". Do you ever do that with your students? What strategies do you have to help your students want to work together and do the best work that they can?
The statement you posted "Technology can facilitate the collaboration process by linking together individuals who share a common interest and goal" (Brown). is so true. I always seem to get better results with collaboration when the students have something in common. I often help students make new friends by putting them in collaboration with someone that they are not friends with and then say to them something like "John, did you know that Tyler plays ice hockey in Pittsburgh also?" Sometimes just one statement like that can help the students decide that they would be good together and they do excellent work". Do you ever do that with your students? What strategies do you have to help your students want to work together and do the best work that they can?
Well-written post. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that collaboration validates what you are thinking. I know that for me talking something through will help me understand it better. And you are right, people tend to be skilled in different subject areas so that a team of experts from different areas can problem solve better together than alone. To play devil's advocate, how can you reconcile that many people want to be better others with working together to collaborate? Are people basically selfish or altruistic or something in between?
You mentioned that the use of collaboration was based on constructivism. Did you mean that collaborating with others helps a person to construct their own understanding of a skill or concept?
I think if we explain to ad teach the students at a young age how to collaborate and how it can be, but not always, be better when they work together with someone. They can learn that other people might have different views or look at something in a different way.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration is of value, especially as you mention when in doubt, or perhaps when working with difficult concepts. It is interesting that Patricia (pnesrsta) mentions she does better when she talks through something. This leaves me wondering if forums, blogs, and wikis can be as effective as good old-fashioned face-to-face talking? Perhaps synchronous tools such as Skype, Zoom, Livemeeting, Webex, or Adobe Connect are technologies that can aid collaboration.
ReplyDeleteJoseline,
DeleteI think Skype, Zoom, Livemeeting, Webex, and Adobe Connect can help with collaboration. Sometimes seeing the person that you are talking to makes you more comfortable talking to someone and you can make the conversation more personal. Blogs and Wikis are good for the students that like to read or are very shy and do not like to voice there opinions out loud because maybe they fear making mistakes. It might be best to use a combination to fit all the students' choice of education.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteGood post - informative and positive regarding technology and collaboration. I am glad that you mentioned Vygotsky's theory because he claims that the very youngest of children learn mainly through interactions with other people in their immediate social world then we need to nurture that process instead of isolating them and dictating what they are to learn. Dr. Harlene Anderson from the Taos Institute stated that "New landscapes require changing perspectives that in turn call for new practices." The perspectives that need to change are the educators - the young people are already there waiting on us to facilitate and model the way of learning that comes quite naturally to them. Collaborative learning is not something that can be taught, but we can create just the right environment that will allow our students to learn collaboratively and allowing them to choose the tools of technology to assist in the learning is an excellent strategy.
I agree learning to work as part of a team can be a vital skill in todays' environment. Computers and the internet have make the world a smaller place where innovation can happen and in an instant worldwide. The social networking sites are examples.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI use TED as well and think it's a great source. Collaboartion is good source of networking.