Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Collaboration


  • Mr. Rheingold believes that humans have a basic instinct to "to interact and work as a group." I believe that this new view of collaboration supports that. I do believe that we have a basic instinct to work together. In his speech he states that"you prove to me that you are trustworthy and I will cooperate."(Rheingold, 2005) I believe this is the new "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."  We have come to find in this world that we cannot do most things alone. Collaboration is the way to get things done quicker. You can always find a way to get things done alone, but to work with others is the best way to succeed.  
  • Constructivist's believe that we generate knowledge through experience and ideas.  Technology can help facilitate this by bringing together different groups of people and combine what they know in order to reach their goals. The internet, Skype, Dropbox and other collaboration tools can all be used to unite people all over the world to work together.  Our cell phones have become portable computers so that this can occur anywhere at any time. If we all bring our experiences to the table a lot can be accomplished.
  • The case study I read talks about how student's cannot be educated the same way their parent's were. It also states that "students need to take part in complex, meaningful projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration."(Barron, Hammond, 2008) In this diverse world we live in collaboration is key or our students will be the one's left behind the curve in learning. We have to expose them to out of the box thinking now in order for them to be competitive.
Case Study



Powerful Learning: Studies Show Deep Understanding Derives from Collaborative Methods



References


Barron, B., Darling-Hammond, 2008.Powerful Learning: Studies Show Deep Understanding Derives from Collaborative Methods. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/inquiry-project-learning-research.

Rheingold, H.2005. Howard Rheingold: The New Power of collaboration. Retrieved from 
http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html


Responded to:
Cheryl Carroll
http://cacarroll57.blogspot.com/

Temeka Shingles
http://temekashingles.tumblr.com/

 Brenda McKoy
www.educlearn@wordpress.com
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4 comments:

  1. Martha BlessJanuary 15, 2012 at 10:07 AM

    Hi Toni,
    I agree that collaboration is an innate urge for us as human beings. What's interesting to me is the difference between Eastern and Western thought in terms of collaboration. In the East, the good of the group is considered more than that of the individual, whereas in the West, the individual is the primary concern. I wonder to what extent capitalism has played into this.

    I also agree that new technologies have made collaboration easier than ever before. Teachers are using the flat world (Friedman,2006) more and more to reach out across the globe and connect their students to other cultures. Check out the flat classroom project at:
    http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com/Home

    Reference
    Friedman, T. L. (2006). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

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  2. Fred DavisJanuary 15, 2012 at 11:13 AM

    Hi Toni,

    The Rheinhgold (2008) video certainly feeds into my philosophy regarding constructivism and the need to interact and work together to accomplish missions. Though I'm certainly not a Naisbitt or a Toffler, I can envisage the world down the road drawing upon our collective resources to integrate and implement the technological challenges that no doubt are before us.

    My constructivist background tells me that some technologies will be more user-friendly than others, and in the cases where collaboration is needed, the practical or pragmatic thing to do is engage in collaboration to make things palatable for others.

    Thanks for raising the importance of constructivism in your blog -- and I couldn't agree more with the 'heavy lifting' of collaboration to get the job done.

    Fred

    Reference:

    Rheingold, H. (2008, February) Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from
    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Organic Book NookJanuary 15, 2012 at 1:57 PM

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  4. Organic Book NookJanuary 15, 2012 at 2:12 PM

    Toni,

    I agree, one of the best ways to succeed is to work with others. If we strive to see what we can offer to each other, within our workplaces or educational institutions, then we could accomplish so much. I also believe that collaboration is key with all students, including primary grade students. As educators we must make learning engaging for all students, and that would include complex projects and out of the box thinking.

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