Finding the Right Mix

In my last post I spoke on Weblogs being the next frontier in student collaboration. To build upon that notion, I will take a look at some successful collaboration actively going on in all genres of education. 

I found an interesting blog by Joshua Block a High School Humanities teacher at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia.  Read his story here: Creating Successful Collaborations posted on Edutopia.org website.

Joshua’s blog not only talks about how beneficial these real-world experiences can be, but he also speaks on how the wrong collaborations can be just as detrimental. He talks about finding “the right mix” – the key to any cooperative learning environment both inside the classroom and online.  It is at the heart of the constructivist approach to encourage and foster team work and collaboration to develop individual thought and communication skills on a broader spectrum.  However, there still needs to be a rhyme and reason to how we approach these collaborations.  Again, blogs demand interaction.  They must ask readers to think and to respond (Richardson, 2010).  Block states that his online collaborations “gives our students access to experts and experiences that transform all of us, students and teachers alike” (Block, 2013) and isn’t that what the “Read/Write Web” (Richardson, 2010) should be about?

Sources:

Block, J. (2013). Creating successful collaborations. Edutopia.org. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/on-collaboration-joshua-block

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Blogs - The New Frontier

When one reflects upon the notion that blogging can enhance international student collaboration, a person should realize that “weblogs truly expand the walls of the classroom” (Richardson, 2010, p. 27).  Think about it – the Internet is also known as the World Wide Web – not the State by State or City by City Wide Web.  Its structure is such that we connect with one another on a global level.  The classroom should be no exception.  Students can benefit from “a sense of understanding and tolerance, which helps develop a students learning about the world in which they live” (Morris, 2011).  As educators we not only need to be cognoscente of the local standards deemed important by our school systems, we also need to prepare our students for the world in which they will eventually have to life and compete in.  While we may not all have video enabled telecommunication devices, most of us do have access to Internet portals.  For the most part, that is all that a blogger needs to begin the process of collaboration.  While it may not be the most highly technical of collaborative tools, it’s an excellent starting point.

Sources:

Morris, K. (2011). A reflection on the benefits of classroom blogging. Primary Tech. Retrieved from http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/01/17/a-reflection-on-the-benefits-of-blogging/

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.