Collaboration

Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia?

After listening and watching Rheingold’s video, I do not believe that humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group.  Socializing amongst others is a skill that must be developed over time.  Collaboration occurs when a group of people work together to obtain a specific purpose.  I do feel that in order for a group of individuals to work together on an assigned task all members must be involved in the assigned task, and each member must contribute in the assigned task.

•How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?  

Technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles by allow students opportunities to develop higher-order thinking skills, define problems, evaluate information, solve problems, and make conclusions based on the information retrieved for their research.  Technology assists learners to processing new information, gather information, find answers about the information, and to collaborate with others to apply what has been learned.  Technology provides opportunities for learners to demonstrate their understanding of learned skills.   Technology allows students to experience more diverse and socially rich learning contexts through emails, social media sites, and other telecommunication devices.  Using technology learners are able to communicate with others groups of people from around the world, gather research, discuss the research, and work collaboratively and cooperatively.

•Find a current research study that has been conducted in the last 5 years that supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning. Include the link and reference for this study in your blog.

The research study that I found was conducted in 2009 entitled, “The Impact of Online Collaboration Learning on Educators and Classroom Practices.  This article can be found @ http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socioeconomic/docs/Metiri_Teacher_Collaboration_Research.pdf.

This research study was conducted to determine if students were more successful in their academics when their teachers participated in long-term, collaborative, whole school professional developments compared to those teachers who worked in isolation to teacher their students.  The results yielded that those students performed better academically when their teachers worked collaboratively with other teachers in planning and teaching classroom lessons, activities, etc.  Students feel their needs were being met by all their teachers, and they feel a sense of comfort in their teacher’s classrooms.

Reference

Metiri Group, (2009).  The impact of online collaborative learning on educators and classroom practices.  The Cisco Systems.  Cisco Public Inc.  San Jose, CA.    Information was retrieved on October14, 2012 from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socioeconomic/docs/Metiri_Teacher_Collaboration_Research.pdf.

 

I replied to Dorothea on Danita Dean’s blog @ http://danitaspot.blogspot.com/ , and I have responded to Kristy Burrough @ http://kburrough2012.blogspot.com/2012/10/collaboration.html#comment-form.