I feel that humans intrinsically will and can work together. Based on what I saw in Rheingold’s video, I think about the rule of supply and demand. Because of this, there is always going to be those who need something from someone else, and there will always be that group who has that supply of something ready to deliver in return for something else. The only way to get this cycle going and keep it going is by collaborating.
We may not like each other and we may not get along, but at certain times and in certain instances, we need each other. Right now, there exist the most unlikely human beings that you could ever imagine being and working together for the sake of education. Their politically, personal, and religious views could not be more different. Yet they have come together in a collaborative effort to find out what works and what needs to change in schools so as to move education forward. They are Newt Gingrich, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Arne Duncan, Public Education Secretary. To see the odd collaboration click the links below (it was posted as a 3-part series but I saw it in its entirety).
We can use technology to facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles by using the Internet. Use of Google.docs for students to collaboratively create a report is one example. We can use pod cast to give instructions to students to perform a learning task together and have it be a rule that this pod cast is the only help that they will be given. Then they will rely upon the members of the group to complete the assignment together. We could use SKYPE to visit and view students in other countries, and as the students are doing so, they could work together to construct biomes if the students are in one of the settings with sand, forests, or oceans. With the SKYPE, the students on each end of the camera will be able to construct models of the biomes.
A great example of real-life collaboration from which we all may benefit:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWWXARcqX8
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwqYnBqJBI
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yANobP-60yo
Reference
Howard Rheingold: Way-New Collaboration http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howare_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
posted by Carrie "Penny" Penagraph
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I love your comment about the efficacy of pod casts as a learning and teaching tool. I think we are quite a distance away from that being the only help they will be given. While I think this sounds good in principal, some teachers might use it as merely an uninterrupted lecture. I am thinking that there would need to be pod cast feedback from peers and the teacher occasionally.
ReplyDeletePenny:
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing an excellent example of collaborative efforts by prominent figures that support and value the American educational system. Because each is willing to minimize his personal views, they have bonded together to work for a common cause. These men are leaders in their own rights and can provide expertise in various backgrounds and areas to advance a worthy cause.
Newt Gingrich, Al Sharpton and Arne Duncan discussed how collaborative efforts could help restore this country’s educational system if responsible citizens would work to improve American schools. They are not promoting their own agenda but rather working to promote an agenda so everyone associated with education will benefit. Collaborative efforts require individuals to relinquish their own personal views in favor of ideas that would benefit the majority.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwqYnBqJBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yANobP-60yo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWWXARcqX8
Valeria