I have been discussing web 2.0 and authentic audiences. One of the ways web 2.0 tools create authentic audiences in through collaboration. This could be collaboration with peers, sisters schools, online communities, and such.
A classmate of mine recently pointed me in the direction of a blog entry by Jon Orech that points out that web 2.0 tools ≠ collaboration. They can, but the same pedagogy that would be applied in an classroom collaboration project must be applied in the online collaboration project. He goes on to explore how Johnson and Johnsons' twelve types of positive interdependence can be applied in the online world and stating that at least three must be present for the success of the cooperative learning. Then he explains how individual accountability can be taken in online collaboration.
I have had many classes that incorporated cooperative learning, however, I did not know what Johnson and Johnsons' twelve positive interdependence were. While I had a hard time finding the 12 types of positive interdependence, I did find a site on cooperative learning by Johnson and Johnson. (I was able to find 9 of them here. I think all 12 can be found in the book Cooperation in the Classroom by Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec. Unfortunately, it is not available on Google Books).
Positive Interdependence establishes that:
(a) "each group member's efforts are required and indispensable for group success and
(b) each group member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities" (Johnson and Johnson, nd, 6)
I think setting up positive interdependence for online collaboration projects would be no harder than setting up positive interdependence for face-to-face collaboration projects. There would be added difficulty if working with another classroom. The teachers would had to agree upon the positive interdependence and goals of the project; however, if both teachers weren't working together towards the same goals I think the project would fail anyways.
After reading how Orech proposes to deal with individual accountability in the entry, I think it might be easier than in a face-to-face project. He does address general practices, such as making groups small and assigning roles, but then he goes on to talk about techniques that are unique to web 2.0 tools and online collaboration. The abilities the web 2.0 tools give us to trace history and authorship can help teachers determine individual contribution. If I can go in at any time and see who contributed what to the group, I don't have to guess or assume whose fingerprints are on which part of the project.
This blog entry is another example of why research-proven pedagogy practices still need to be used with advances in technology and web 2.0 tools.
References:
Johnson, D. and Johnson, R. (n.d.). Cooperative Learning. Retrieved March 29, 2009 from http://www.co-operation.org/pages/cl.html#interdependence
Orech, John. (2009, March 29). Guest Blog: Tech Forum Speaker Jon Orech on Collaboration. Message posted to http://www.techlearning.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Flickr/laurakaysmith
Twitter/laurakaysmith
Del.icio.us/laurakaysmith
Wikipedia/laurakaysmith
This doesn't directly relate to your post, however, I thought you might find this article interesting. I was working on an assignment in my other class and this was one of the readings about using the Internet in education.The author talks about Web 2.0 being about using the Internet as a two way medium, to consume information and to create information. For a neophye like myself, this was a very enlightening article.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/moving-toward-web-20-in-k-12-education/
I think you bring up a very valid point that research driven pedagogy practices need to be applied when teachning with technology. How can teachers expect technology to work without modeling for students, setting expectations, and constantly monitoring progress?
ReplyDeleteWeb 2.0 tools seem to be hailed as being synonymous with collaboration and, yet, they can't ensure that collaboration will take place. I used to think that online group work was nearly impossible, but, as you point out, the problems that can arise in online group work can also occur in face-to-face group work. In fact, it occurred to me as I read your post that a teacher can probably track history and authorship of an online collaborative project more accurately than they can track collaboration in a face-to-face group project.
ReplyDelete