Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Module 3: The Need for Collaboration – Natural Instinct?

Do humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group? Well absolutely! Consider the last time you walked into a room filled with strangers. Did you go sit in the corner all alone or did you find someone to sit beside and make small talk? Naturally, adults (and even children) have the tendency to gravitate to one another. Howard Rheingold isn’t shy about sharing his opinion of the natural evolution of collective knowledge in our society. As technology continues to emerge and progress, the internet has become an open highway of information. Technology flows in two directions, just as traffic flows down a major highway in opposite directions. However, for technology to be utilized in an effective manner it is critical that teachers determine the passion that exists within each and every child in order to assist students with pursuing those passions. Knowledge should continuously change and develop as the learner participates in new activities (Driscoll, 2005). Incorporating technology into a collaborative learning environment is an excellent means of addressing the human instinct to interact with others.

Web 2.0 technologies and other advances in technology have now created multiple accesses to information with various outlets for transmission and revision. Web 2.0 users are able to access information, activate prior knowledge and experiences, and make personal connections to information based on prior learning. Social networking, wikis, blogs, and other collaborative spaces have become an open highway to flowing knowledge and information. Learners are able to post their own perspectives and ideas using these resources providing other learners with the ability to process and reconstruct the information according to their own experiences and perspectives. Recent studies have highlighted how the operation and implementation of social computing tools can be utilized to support the creation of an open and socially shared information space for collaboration among online learners. This can diminish the lack of collaboration in online learning environments in comparison to that of face-to-face instruction and learning. Although this can definitely improve the educational practices for many, it can also cause issues as learners begin to share ideas. As Michael Trucano notes in his blog, it is easier than ever for students to cheat and to get caught. Teachers must create and enforce expectations for students when collaborating via Web 2.0 resources.

References:

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pooranachandran, C. C., & Balasubramanian, R. R. (2011). COLLABORATION IN WEB BASED LEARNING: A SOCIAL COMPUTING PERSPECTIVE. International Journal On Computer Science & Engineering, 3(2), 722-727.
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7 comments:

  1. Mrs. StiffApril 10, 2012 at 8:42 PM

    Module 3 Feedback from Tawana Stiff:

    Greetings Laura!

    I really like the analogy you used about technology flowing in two directions as learners can either add to the accessible information or learn something from it. With monitoring student use of technology being of major concern, which of the two "traffic flows" do you consider to be the most challenging...monitoring the information students put out or the information students take in? What are some specific strategies you utilize to monitor the traffic flow of technology?

    Great post!

    Tawana

    ReplyDelete
  2. BethApril 11, 2012 at 5:27 PM

    Tawana,

    For me, it more challenging to monitor the information students take in. Many websites are blocked on the school server which limits student access to some of the "unwanted" material; however, this is not the only challenge I face. My middle school students struggle to understand that everything found on the internet is not factual. Many are lead to believe if it is on the internet, then it is indeed credible. Monitoring student use of credible resources to support writing in my Language Arts classes is definitely a daunting task.

    I try to provide specific resources for students; however, I have found this does not allow students to truly research on their own. Requiring students to record the websites accessed and constant monitoring within the classroom is part of my monitoring routine. Do you have any further suggestions?

    Thanks for your response,
    ~L

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 12, 2012 at 6:41 PM

    Laura,

    I have seen a huge increase in cheating (or at least me catching it) this year. It is so easy to take a document, change the name, and maybe the font, and turn it in. At my middle school, we are required to give the students an opportunity to redo the assignment or to complete an alternate assignment. I worry though that this is teaching them that it's okay to cheat, as long as you get caught, and if you get caught, that isn't a big deal either, since you will just get to redo the assignment. What suggestions do you have for reducing cheating in the first place?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 12, 2012 at 6:42 PM

    Sorry, as long as you *don't get caught.

    ReplyDelete
  5. BethApril 12, 2012 at 6:58 PM

    Rashida,

    As much as we push, push, push for using technology, I have found it much more beneficial to have students take handwritten notes when completing research tasks. Once the notes are approved, I allow the students to utilize various programs but I monitor (to the best of my ability) to make sure no one is copying and pasting from one site/document to another.

    I agree when we allow students to "redo" an assignment once we have established that cheating has occured then we are beginning to diminish our authority as teachers. I've had several situations this year where I have caught students plagiarizing song lyrics as their own personal compositions. So sad! In both instances, the student received a 0. I am not one for redoing an assignment when a student blatantly disregards ethical decision making.

    ~L

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. contech1April 14, 2012 at 2:26 PM

      Hi Laura,

      I take your point, but sitting in a corner has to do with one’s sitting preference when you walk into a room. There is a cultural dilemma in the western society. Unless there is some kind of contract, people do not normally say “good morning.” I have experienced telling people at my work place Good Morning and they hardly even want to respond. Students are not ready to greet you unless they have already negotiated a social contract with you. People gravitate to something or someone to satisfy a desire. This is the desire for them to feel good rather than feeling bad about themselves. Rheingold has said that one’s selfish desire is benefitted when they collaborate. He also knows that technology has forced groups and companies to collaborate. The outsourcing of jobs and the merging of companies is to satisfy selfishness either singularly or with a syndicate of organization. People do not have a natural desire to collaborate. And, even in collaborating people do not want to be doing most of the work unless there is a selfish desire to acquire or something is at stake. “Incorporating technology into a collaborative learning environment is excellent.” Technology enhances collaboration but collaboration is as a result of a situation that demands one’s interactive participation. Do I want to work with people in a learning community? No as I believe I sacrifice my personal convenience of my time and other personal relaxing and emotional conditions. This however, does not mean that the benefits of collaboration are less than individual means of solving a problem.

      I agree with you the benefits of information retrieval and access is accelerated by technology. Web 2.0 interactive do helps the learning community to learn about the technology while they interact and learn content. It’s funny that you should say “Learners are able to post their own perspectives and ideas using these resources providing other learners with the ability to process and reconstruct the information according to their own experiences and perspectives.” This is in contrast with your strong initial support that “humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group.” Your point of “social computing tools can be utilized to support the creation of an open and socially shared information space for collaboration among online learners,” is true, but I have not experienced people who hold my interest to collaborate with me because of natural instinct. There is always some selfish desire to be satisfied.

      Thanks for reading

      Delete
  6. shirleybradyApril 14, 2012 at 1:24 PM

    Hi Laura,

    Your post was very well written and gave me a thought to ponder. Humans do have a basic instinct to interact in groups. Since this statement is true why is collaboration so difficult? How eo we as learners determine the passion that exists?

    ReplyDelete

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