Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group?
I believe that "two heads are better than one" as the old addage goes especially in problem based learning. Rheingold (2009) stated that collaboration is a natural human instinct and describes Wikipedia as an outgrowth of the instinct to do group work. In nursing education, students often work on assignments in small groups and assume responsibility for group learning outcomes and student's become accountable for their own work too. Collaborative learning promotes active, reflective learning, and encourages teamwork.
How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?
Hannafin et al stated (as cited by Driscoll, 2005) that collaborative technologies that are Web-based can provide "problem scaffolding" and access to experts and on-line support systems (p. 404). This type learning environment allows students to communicate with others whether inside or outside of their immediate learning environments. In nursing education, the use of computer-mediated communication allows a free exchange of information among students, faculty, and nurses in practice settings (Billings & Halstead, 2005).
References:
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2005). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (2nd ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Rheingold, H. (2009). Thoughts on design, technology, and culture. Retrieved from http://designative.info/2009/04/03/howard-rheingolds-way-new-collaboration-talk-at-ted/
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Great video! Problem solved!
ReplyDeleteProbing question: It seems that people withdraw from group activites as they grow older. What causes that can be addressed could be affected to change this?
Bill
Bill,
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the experience people had with group activities when they were younger. Those who had positive experiences with them seem to want group activities more. On the other hand, those who had bad experiences with group activities will hate them.
Of course, you have to keep in mind that today's students are exposed to more group activities due to the curriculum and beliefs on best practices. Collaboration is encouraged more in schools today than in the past, so I believe as today's students get older, they will not lose their interest in collaborative activities as the current older people.
I do think past experiences may effect people's attitude about group work. Older people have more work experience and sometimes have to worry about their jobs that they begin to focus on themselves. Jobs are so cut throat these days, I think people are afraid to share ideas and intellectual property.
ReplyDeleteLaToya
Hannafin described exactly what I experience in my position at the state department. I experience problem based scaffolding via web based collaboration on a weekly basis with folks from all over the country, multi-state federally funded projects as well as consultants and university contacts. The world of knowledge is everexpanding. It now only takes a few seconds to connect with experts all over the world.This access to knowledge makes it both easier to work as acquisition of information is so quick but it also increases the work load and expectations. So connectivity can be both a positive and a negative. We need to "disconnect" sometimes from the barage of information so that we can think...
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