I believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group”. You can see it in just about every profession out there. There are prime examples in business and education when groups of people need to collaborate to get something accomplished. There is a need to pick other’s brains to come up with the best idea possible to get the job done. Rheinhold stated that people have been working together for a very long time and have had to work together in groups in order to get the job done (Rheinhold, 2008). For example hunters and gatherers had to work together when taking down a huge animal for the tribe. People have an innate need to work together, live together, and socialize together - it’s biblical. Really we have seen the constructivist theory at work for a very long time when it comes to communication and collaboration among groups of people - as the commercial says “So Easy a Caveman can do it” and they were within their familial units.
Technology can facilitate collaboration in so many ways. I my self have utilized web-quests in the classroom with groups of about 3 - 4 students each depending upon the assignment. Students love being able to utilize technology to learn and collaborate with each other. I have also utilized e-mail with our Flat Stanley projects and collaboration is instant with partner classrooms in the project. Collaboration and technology go hand in hand and with the onset on social networking sites, texting, and wiki usage, there really is no separating the two of them.
Reference:
Rheingold, Howard. (2008). Way-New collaboration. Retrieved April 14, 2010 at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
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The part of your discussion where you wrote "so easy a caveman can do it," made me think about a problem I have seen with my high school students. Yes, they enjoy working together, but they do not know how to work together. I always have to help them throughout the process. These are 10th and 11th grade students that do not know how to work together. I am seeing that students are able to communicate by texting, e-mail, or social networking. They do, however, seem to have trouble working face to face with other students. Do you see this as a problem?
ReplyDeleteSharon,
ReplyDeleteI teach the lower elementary grades K-1 and at this age level we are still teaching them how to work together. I think that your dilemma will change over the next decade as newer teaching methods are taking over - out with the old and in with the new- Collaboration and team work is happening more and more in the classroom and as it does it will stay with them throughout their schooling... and when they get to you it should be second nature. At least this is my hope!:)
I posted to Sharon McDaniel's and Holly Shumaker's blog. The URL are below:
ReplyDeletehttp://sharon-mcdaniel.blogspot.com
http://holly-shumaker.blogspot.com
Laine,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! Students are going to reach out and collaborate on their own!
Sherry