Rheingold (2005) states that we can succeed through collaborative efforts and when we all work together as one. I agree with his statement, however I do not think that people have a basic instinct to work together as one or as a group. In reflecting on my own personal work habits, I am what they call a “loner” or you can say I have a shy personality. I like working alone because I am able to work at my own pace and work without any interruptions during my thinking. Do not get me wrong, I can also work well in collaborative environments. To sum up my thoughts, my first instinct is not to rally together a group to complete a task but to see if I can successfully complete the task independently. Another point I would like to make is that as humans we also have a competitive nature. When competition is involved then everything becomes a solo effort. In my opinion, Rheingolds’ theory is pertinent when survival is at stake, then a person’s basic instinct thrust into interacting and working as a group.
One technology tool that facilitates collaboration among learners based on the constructivist principles is a blog. Blogs allows students to provide reflections and allow students to make comments to their peers (Palloff, 2005). During third quarter, a fifth grade class I work with was finishing a unit on the Civil War. My contribution to the unit was to create work stations for the students to engage in as a method to review the content before taking their bench mark. One of the work stations that I created was labeled the Blogger in U. The students had to answer the following question: Dear students you have been studying the Civil War over the last 8 weeks. Reflecting on all of the information that you have learned answer the following question on Mrs. Simmons’ blog. How have the events that occurred before and after the Civil War impacted the way that you live today? This question promoted higher order thinking because the students had to take all the information that they learned about the Civil War (prior knowledge) and apply it to their life as it is today.
Distance Education supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning. George Seiman, stated that more people are accepting the idea of participating in distance education (Laureate, 2008). As distance education continues to flourish, new methods of collaboration are being developed and experienced in order to effectively communicate with one another. In a face to face environment, you are only able to communicate with the participants that are in the room with you. Collaborating in distance education allows participants to communicate outside of their normal parameters. Participants are able to communicate with people around the world synchronously (Laureate, 2008).
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rheingold, H. (2005, February). New-way collaboration. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html.
LaTonya,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your use of constructivist approaches to blogs to develop a student collaborative medium. Similarly, I share your perspective regarding collaboration and what it means to be part of a learning group. Specific to learning organizations, group efficiency depends on its members exchanging information, learning, collaborating, and motivating each other (Drach-Zahavy & Somech, 2001). Thus, an effective learning community builds on each individual member’s skills to realize its collective potential and strengths. Moreover, collaborative learning involves communication and a paradigm shift from an individual-centered success potential to a team-centered collaboration process. How do you feel about the collaboration in our learning community?
Reference
Drach-Zahavy, A., & Somech, A. (2001). Understanding team innovation: The role of team processes and structures. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 5(2), 111-123. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.5.2.111.