Collaboration
Humans have a basic instinct to interact and work together as a group. It is simply human nature to not only communicate with others, but to feel as if one belongs to a group. People have been working together for a very long time and have worked in groups in order to complete specific task (Rheinhold, 2008). Evidence of this can be seen in every aspect of life: families, raising children, education, work, etc. I am reminded of the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Each and every aspect of my personal life involves interaction and working as a group. While at school, I depend on my coworkers for support and guidance. I depend on communication from my students to determine whether something needs to be retaught to the entire class, to just a few individuals, or to none at all. My coworkers and I work together as a group to ensure that all students are given the same exposure to conent. Within my classroom, although I am the teacher, we work as a group to build our knowledge base and to reach one common goal: understanding. When my workday is over, I return home to my family. I depend on my husband to help with our children and we assist one another constantly.
Technology can certainly facilitate learning based on constructivist principles. To put it simply, technology is such a part of our students’ real lives. They have access to all kinds of collaborating tools online, such as wikis, blogs, social networking sites, skype, etc. The technological options are endless for our students. Participating in a blog that enhances their education is ideal because not only is the learner engaged, they are enjoying being able to integrate technology into the everyday classroom.
Holly
Reference:
Rheinhold, H. (Artist). (2008). Howard rheingold: way-new collaboration. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
**I posted responses to the following:
http://janedewitt.blogspot.com
http://sharon-mcdaniel.blogspot.com
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Holly, I agree with you and have a similar situation. At the schools that I teach at I have observed the need for fellow teachers to collaborate with one another concerning lesson plans. It is a small school of 24 teachers and they tend to cluster in small groups of 2-3 people. One area of technology that we deployed was to have wireless PCs, at least one per class, to share with each other. This has encouraged our professional development. Val
ReplyDeleteHolly,
ReplyDeleteI too agree that we need and depend upon interaction and collaboration as human beings we do have a need for it on a regular basis. It's a biblical principle. I also agree that technology is very much an -inseparable- part of our students lives. We need to use this to our advantage as educators. Getting students involved in school activities from home utilizing blogs, wikis, and social networking sites is a great way to do this. The learning possibilities are endless and they are far more reaching than just the four walls of the classroom now.
Sherry Breeden
Holly,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you incorporated family in your analogy of collaboration :). I too agree that our students have access to so many collaborative tools, especially through social media. I've started using a social media tool with my 4th grade students called "Twiducate"(www.twiducate.com). It's a lot like Twitter but it's social media for schools. They think it's the coolest thing ever :).
Holly,
ReplyDeleteI do believe that we as humans want to belong to a group and while in the group communication and collaboration plays a major role. Therefore, I believe that technology plays a major role in facilitating collaboration because it enables people to communicate, share ideas and collaborate no matter their location. The use of technology also motivates and engages all types of students because technology plays such a major role in their real lives as you stated.