Module 3: Collaboration

Module 3 - Blog Post Discussion

Rheingold (2008) stresses that the collaboration among people as been in existing during the agricultural civilization.  His theory on collaboration correlates to Toffler’s Wave Theory.   Thornburg (2008) indicates that Toffler’s Wave Theory consists of the following:

Agricultural Age – Wave 1

·         Extended family

·         Tied to the farm land

·         Survival

·         Own small land

·         Less mobility

Industrial Age – Wave 2

·         Shift to nuclear family

·         Respond to factory model

·         Stayed in same locale

Information Age – Wave 3

·         Single family

·         Blended family

·         Children of divorced

·         Two paycheck family

·         Flexible working hours

Communication Age – Wave 4

·         Paradigm shift

·         Internet use

·         Ability to collaborate and communicate with others using technology.

Rheingold (2008) stresses that the collaboration among people has been in existing during the agricultural civilization. His theory on collaboration correlates to Toffler’s Wave Theory.

Based on the circumstance, humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group.” For example, a group of individuals get shipwrecked on an island; the norm is to work as a group and make use of each other talents and skills for survival. If teachers implement technology effectively and efficiently, learners will begin to understand the benefits of working collaboratively in an online throughout the world. According to Koschmann (1994), computers and their related technologies can facilitate, augment, and even redefine interactions among member of a working group,” (p. 219). Driscoll (2005) reveals that collaborative technologies are now finding their way into instruction to support learning of students engaged in a learning task as members of a group. An important advantage of collaborative technologies that are web-based is that they can provide scaffolding (Hannafin et al., 1997) in the form of virtual access to knowledge experts and online support to make thinking visible. Students will then have the opportunity to identify learning goals, conduct investigations, keep track of their progress, think about their ideas and others, and communicate to others within and outside the actual learning community (Driscoll, 2005).

This is a current research study that has been conducted in the last 5 years that supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning:

Glenn, M.  (2008, October).  The future of higher education:  how technology will shape learning.  Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by the New Media Consortium, 1-17. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/Future-of-Higher-Ed-(NMC).pdf

References
Driscoll, M. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Thornburg, D. (2008).  Educational technology:  The next wave:  Part 1. (Vodcast).  Laureate Education Inc.  Retrieved from http://bookstore.mbsdirect.net

Rheingold, H. (2008, February).  Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file].  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html

Michele Baylor 


Module 3:  Collaboration

I responded to the following community members:

Nadine Petrie-Waymyers

http://waymyersedtech.blogspot.com/


Temeka Shingles 

http://temekashingles.tumblr.com/