EDUC8845-Collaboration

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?

Perhaps it is my own personal preference or experiences that influence my perception, but I believe humans do have a basic instinct to "interact and work as a group". One of the first situations I thought of when I read this questions was how people bond together in the face of disaster. When Katrina hit the gulf coast, people from all over the county came together to assist those in need. It was a tragedy that was nearly impossible to handle as an individual, and even those that had not been directly effected, felt compelled to come to the aid of those that were.

Another example of our instinct to interact and work as a group is the number of civil and community organizations that have been developed over time. People join these organizations for the opportunity to interact and work together for the common good.

As Rheingold pointed out, people do not always come together to work for the common good. There many examples where people have come together to profit from illegal activity. Perhaps this is where the term "partner in crime" was coined.

Whether there intent is to do good or bad, I believe people feel more confident in what they attempt to accomplish when they become part of a group.


How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?

Collaboration no longer requires people to be in the same place at the same time. This in its self expands the opportunity for collaboration. The ways technology can facilitate collaboraation among learners are abundant. Learners can use Weblogs, wikis, email, online discussion boards such as Elluminations, Google docs, Skype, and many more Web 2.0 tools.

Constuctivist believe that an active learner is a successful learner (Driscoll, 2005). The technology tools I mentioned above promote interaction amoung all learners. Another component of constructivism is learning from examples and learning by doing, which enables learners to achieve a deep levels of understanding (Driscoll, 2005). These technology tools provide opportunites for learners to view examples of their peers work, as well as help them become actively involved in the learning process.