Module 3 Blog Posting:
From families to communities, from the school playground to the adult corporation, we humans do have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group” as Rheingold suggests. Working together seems to help us do more than we could alone, be more than we could be alone and have more than we could have alone. The idea of collaborating to achieve a common goal is as old as man and will probably go on into the unforeseeable future. Humans like to have other humans agree with them, disagree with them, but not ignore them. The interaction is what is important. The interaction is what makes one’s idea grow and go in new directions developing as it grows into something that is sometimes bigger, better and more useful than the original idea from a single person. How often have we asked our learning community members to give us feedback about our ideas? How often have we asked colleagues their opinions about our ideas on projects? Even the question, “What do you think about…?” has made the questioner think more deeply about the idea, change a perspective about the idea, and allowed the questioner to see a new point of view that enriches his thinking.
We all have probably had the experience of trying something we were unfamiliar with doing, only to ask a friend about it and to have them show us a better, faster, newer way of getting better results. How does technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles? I often think of the story Stone Soup where collaboration and cooperation brought about changes in attitudes as well as hunger status. Technology which allows such collaboration and cooperation can only enhance the human condition making it better for all involved. The very constructivist act of making the soup based on perceived need, lends itself to a sharing of ideas and resources. Technology tools like wikis and blogs and online document editing are just a few of the ways this collaboration takes place now. Who knows where it will lead in the future?
Resources:
Howard Rheingold on Collaboration
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
Stone Soup, Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.extremelinux.info/stonesoup/stonesoup.html
Image from http://www.stonesoupky.org/StoneSoup-book,jpg
Precious story and very fitting for our topic of discussion. In this case, the soldier taught the village the value of cooperation and should hopefully enhance their way of living. I must say, in the same way, I have had to learn the value of collaboration as an adult learner. I truly value cooperative activities with my students, but never really appreciated them as an adult until recently when our group worked very well on a project. We seemed to take a little from each of us to create a finished project that told a great story, just like the village with soup.
ReplyDeleteYou ask the question of where this will lead in the future, and I hope that it will lead to cures and solutions for the wrong in the world. I hear stories of how doctors collaborate all over to come up with solutions to medical problems, and I see this continuing as we are able to communicate freely to anyone, anywhere. As for education, it will take a little more time because we are just now getting computers mainstreamed. Plus, so many administrators only see the negative in communication tools like sexting. Who knows, maybe collaboration will improve this issue too!
Marci