Over the past few weeks I’ve been highlighting the four themes that will guide the “curriculum and instruction” aspects of our 1:1 Tablet PC implementation:

• Information Management and Research
• Digital Citizenship
• Communication and Collaboration in a Global World
• Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Design

The first, Information Management and Research, provides a unified research strategy. The second, Digital Citizenship, encourages appropriate technology behavior. The third theme, Communication and Collaboration, leverages the power of living in a connected world.

The Human Network

Just as a 1:1 learning environment offers ubiquitous access to information, it also provides unparalleled opportunities for communication and collaboration. And while technology can foster these connections, one cannot overlook the importance of our students’ place within the “human network”:

YouTube Direkt

For our students to fully participate in this network, though, we must (1) understand what it means to communicate and collaborate in a global world, and (2) have a clear sense of how technology can support these endeavors in the service of teaching and learning.

What is Communication and Collaboration?

For those of us who were students (and/or teachers) in the Pre-Internet era, communication in the classroom was generally face-to-face and teacher-centered. Similarly, collaboration, if encouraged at all, was often limited to simple, teacher-guided variants of cooperative learning. In light of the Digital Age, however, these concepts have taken on a whole new dimension.

The 2007 National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for Students provide a window into what communication and collaboration mean in the 21st century:

“Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

• interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
• communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
• develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
• contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.”

Whether it be connecting with people in the same room, down the hall, across the country, or around the world, we need to broaden our students’ horizons. When communication and collaboration transcend the physical confines of the classroom, our student-teacher ratio, a common educational barometer, changes from many students per teacher to many “teachers” per student because learning becomes networked.

Effective Tools and Techniques

Of the myriad communication and collaboration resources available, blogs and wikis are perhaps the most familiar and accessible, but do they positively impact the teaching-learning process? David Peter’s Pedagogical Implications for Blogs and Wikis in Higher Education offers some insight that is applicable for K-12 education as well:

“Through a blog, a student has opportunities to demonstrate knowledge of the content by their postings and demonstrate synthesis and analysis by commenting on other students postings (Moore, 1989). The demonstration of knowledge can best be evaluated by reviewing and commenting on the process, rather than the product (Kerka, 2002). It is more productive, from the perspective of the learner, to receive reflective feedback that causes them to refocus on their writing.

…

As a platform for writing, wikis are ideal as “shared online sketchpads or as spaces for brainstorming” (Lamb, 2004, p. 38). This fluid writing space is ideal for immediate student interaction with the content and other students (Moore, 1989). The structure of a wiki and its ever-changing nature is best evaluated in terms of writer reflection and development of thought, not on the grammatical and syntactical components, which may impede the reflection of the writer (Kerka, 2002).”

Blogs and wikis, however, are more than just vehicles for strengthening writing skills. One of our more extensive collaborative endeavors this year was Mike Fitzgerald’s World War II Wiki. In reflecting on the merits of the project, he noted:

“In the past our unit on WWII was handicapped by our geography. This year, with some simple email connections we were able to put American students on the ground around the world with communities and people who have very vivid memories, great questions, and an interest in sharing stories. Cities such as Gdynia proved to be a goldmine of first hand information for American students to supplement their own research. Poland offered vivid stories and images of invasion, concentration camps, and families torn apart, and my students were able examine perspectives that were not to be found in our text book.”

Aleksandra Blateberg, a cohort member from Junior High School No. 4 in Gdynia, Poland, offered a similar perspective:

“…the project and its collaboration benefits go beyond the usual school learning environment experiences. It has made the learning and teaching authentic and interesting. It has also involved both students and teachers. Shortly speaking, just a great idea - worth following by other educators and experiencing by themselves and their students.”

Even with a clear understanding of how communication and collaboration can support learning, it can be intimidating to follow Aleksandra’s suggestion; large-scale projects take considerable effort to implement successfully. That said, start small and then expand your comfort zone. If you need help or inspiration, just ask. After all, that’s what communication and collaboration are all about.

 

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Posted: 04|23|08 at 11:31 am. Filed under: 1:1, Global Collaboration.
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