Collaboration, for many teachers, brings visions of students who resist working in groups, the struggle to create equitable teams of students, uneven participation, and the difficulty of evaluating and grading the products produced by a group (Palloff & Pratt, 2005). We often get students who have not worked in collaborative groups. There are many different reasons for these non-collaborative experiences. While still developing, students go through phases of not wanting to work with this person or that person. The thought of two minds working together usually does not enter the mind of a child or even some adults at times. In my opinion, it is not basic instinct for people to interact and work together as a group. This is something that is formed eventually through different sets of events that may occur. As we develop, we begin to work together with others and then begin to realize that two heads are definitely better than one. However, we do have the basic instinct to do anything that we put our minds to and that will lead to one’s self-interest.
Rheingold (2005) discusses an important point as he states: “succeed by destroying and dominating competition.” He then goes on by staying that we can also succeed through collaborative efforts and when we all work together as one. A great example of collaborative efforts is major corporations. Today, lots of corporations merge with other companies for more success at maximizing their profits. When companies merge together, they have more opportunities at selling their products as well as making sure that all customers are satisfied.
If we observe things that take place around us, humans come together in times of need as well when things are taking places that in within their self-interest. If we look at the different theorists, the constructivist theory looks at different ways in which we learn and interact with others. Through this theory, much learning occurs through our experiences through interactions with others and the environment around us. When we work together, we are learning new ideas as well as teaching what we have learned as well. When information is combined, there are new ideas that come out of this batch of knowledge.
Today, there are lots of technological innovations to help with facilitating collaboration. Over the years, technological advances have produced blogs, wikis, as well as various social networking programs. Rheingold (2005) discusses the Open Source products. These products include: Mozilla, Wikipedia, and the free Open University Lectures. These products are free resources for all to use and are very popular because each programmer contributes his/her knowledge to help improve these products. Today, in online courses, blogs and wikis are becoming an essential part of learner’s daily assignments. Learners get to work together to discuss information that has been discussed in the course room. Learners get a chance to provide feedback as well as work collaboratively in groups on different assignments.
References:
Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Rheingold, H. (2005). Way-New Collaboration. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
I love your opening quote. Most of the blogs I viewed favored working in groups, but you make a great argument against it. My advanced students are the worst about working together. Many have personalities that lack socail development leaving them the outcast. Also, I usually have a group hog and group slacker.
ReplyDeleteEven with the struggles we face making group work successful, I still use it. I think it is importnat to help them over come the adversion to group work to help prepare them for the future.
Great post, I liked seeing the opposite side!
Hello Ashley,
ReplyDeleteYou make some important points about how some younger students may not have the maturity to work together in groups. I have seen students that struggle with this. I believe teachers should encourage students to work together, but be mindful that some will need more time than others to develop a comfort zone with collaborative assignments.
Brenda Rutherford
My definition of collaboration means working together in order to achieve a common goal. So I thought about electing our president, children conspiring to get rid of the substitute teacher they hated and helping the victims of 911. I could see how working collaborativly could take place in those instances without a person realizing it while learning at the same time and achieving a similar goal. Yet, I can understand your position on collaborating and working together as a learned behavior using your examples. It seems we are all sharing our ideas and constructing new knowledge and building on what we know just by the discussion so I can see how the constructivist view comes into play.:-)
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