Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia?
I enjoyed watching Howard Rheingold's "Way-New Collaboration" it was wonderful. The concept of sharing is wonderful but, I believe that humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group. Ask your question does everyone want to build their own castle and live by themselves. I think not. Wikipedia is a great example of how people around the world are working together to create the best information source on the internet. I have worked with some teachers that have found things to raise scores in the classroom and don’t want to share with others. However, with all my years as an accountant in the manufacturing industry we were all about working together so that time wasn’t wasted on two people doing the same work. I work in an environment where teachers are very competitive and protect what works for them and doesn’t share with others. This is very hard for me to accept. I try to teach my students how to work in groups. I believe that we can train others by showing them how great working in groups is. For the last five years I have fought a click in first grade. They are learning that a TEAM means “Together Everyone Achieves More” this is a work in progress but we are getting there.
While I believe that it is in our nature I believe that sometimes that human basic instinct is not nurtured and we get the “lone wolfs” as we have been hearing about in the news lately from the shooting in Arizona.
How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?
Technology provides us with the tools to do just about anything we want to do and accomplish. These tools can help individuals to collaborate and work together sharing and discussing issues that they are interested in or researching. Being able to communicate with people in other countries is perhaps one of the greatest things available today through the use of technology and social networking across the globe.
Constructivist principles allow learner to create learning experiences that are authentic and real world learning. With this new technology driven world cooperative groups of learners that band together and join forces, can eventually solve world problems as well as medical issues. The amount of learning and social impact on the world is endless. Recently I read something that the Human Genome Project would not have been solved so quickly if it had not been for technology and a collaborative cooperative approach at solving the human genome.
Rheingold, H. (2005) Way-new collaboration” [video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
Popular Posts
-
Module 1 Blog Post What are your beliefs about how people learn best? What is the purpose of learning theory in educational technology? I be...
-
After reading the two blogs I started to think about the role of -isms play into today’s education and how things haven’t changed much is th...
-
Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution...
-
• How has your network changed the way you learn? I like getting information from others and sharing with others. I always have tried to get... -
New Technologies According to ARCS model website The ARCS model is a problem solving approach to designing the motivational aspects of learn...
I agree with your comment on how the amount of the learning and social impact from the new technology and constructivist principles is endless. I just read a article going over the back ground of constructivism and technology. Dabbagh and Reo (2011) address the role of social software which provided the realization on a web-based platform of the fundamental principles of social constructivism in our world.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how fast our technology embraced the constructivist principles and how we are benefitting from it in both business and academic world.
N. Dabbagh & R. Reo. (2011). Back to the future: tracing the roots and learning affordance of social software. Retrieved from http://igi-global.com/ViewTitle.aspx?TitleId=45014&Sender=4699a5e4-0c18-4955-b237-3decb31cf235
I do believe in teaming, but growing up, I always wanted to work alone. I thinking back, most of my peers did not like working in groups. Everyone had the mentality of not wanting to be accountable for anyone else actions but their own. I do think that technological advancements in the way we communicate is breaking down those barriers and promoting more team or collaborative efforts among peers. As you stated banding together helps resolve issues easier and possibly faster. Great Information!!
ReplyDeleteAndree,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I thinkin some ways we are programmed within the early grades to not cheat and look at someones elses paper. I work in a system that the students are to do their work by themselves and not look at someones elses paper. Many teachers have the students sitting in individual desks I use double desks and try to place the students in different groups of 6 or less. I also use the "U" shape which of course leads itself into more tealking than normal butthe students help each other when they do seat work. It works out great for me. In a perfect world I hope we will get better about teamwork.