When discussing Collaboration Dr. Orey also explained, “It’s the conversation that students are engaged in that really help them understand something.” With social learning theories, in many cases, students are actively engaged in constructing some type of artifact while engaged in rich conversation about the topic (Laureate Educations, Inc. 2010).
As educators, we need to change with the times and be current with what motivates our students to learn. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski make a great point when discussing rapid advances, “Now students can collaborate through the Web with other students in their school, subject experts, and multiuser game players. They can even collaborate across the globe”(144).
I believe that using technology for student created arifacts and collaboration is a great motivator and a great way to increase social etiquette to prepare our students for global success. The way that technology is moving, many of our students will be working from home and never really have the opportunity to work in collaborative groups. It's strange to think about.
Some example of technology tools that I have found to be worthwhile exploring to use for collaboration are web resources like blogs, wikis, and voicethreads. I have embedded my first voicethread on this blog, please feel free to visit it.
Thank you,
Cathryn
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program eight. Social learning theories [Webcast].
Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology.
Pitler, H., R., E. H., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). "Chapter 7: Cooperative Learning." Using technology with classroom instruction that works.
Cathryn,
ReplyDeleteYou talk about in your post that we need to change with the times and be more current with motivates our students to learn. While I agree we do need to change how we teach and continue to stay current with how students learn, however I think we need to be careful. I keep hearing everyone say that students are used to social networking, and that students will learn best when teachers use social networking in their teaching. Now I agree that we do need to incorporate social networking into how we teach, I would just caution shifting the pendulum to far. Just because social networking is much more a part of our student's lives does not mean that education should be all about social networking. I am convinced that we need to teach our students HOW to use socail networking to be a part of education. Social networking for education is much different than social networking for personal use. Our students are used to social networking for personal/social purposes, and not for education. These two are very similar, but they are certainly not the same. Again, while I agree with this shift in education I just suggest using caution while doing so.
Adam
While I agree with Adam, I believe that the key is finding balance. Also, students must be made to understand why these technologies are being used.
ReplyDeleteCathryn,
ReplyDeleteI wonder if working online together is becoming the new collaborative group. What I mean is, aren’t students that work together online doing the exact same thing as a group of students sitting together in a room? I think that the online group might be more productive. Each person knows what is expected of them and that the rest of the group is depending on them. Whenever I have students working in groups in class, no matter if they are the good students or not, they will socialize. I think that the online group would have less of a chance to do this and then become more productive.
Jeff
Very wisely said, the key is probably finding balance in the whole social networking scheme. Students definetly need to be taught boudaries and what collaboration needs to look like, and be held accountable.
ReplyDelete