Using Technology To Facilitate Collaborative Constructivist Principles

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