Cooperative learning is one way to help increase student
motivation, provide for deeper learning, and make learning a lasting experience
that contributes to lifelong learning (Orey, 2008). Social learning helps students to be held
individually accountable for their learning, and also helps create a social motivation
for completing tasks and learning cooperatively. Another benefit to cooperative learning is
that students are able to discuss the concepts in a small-group environment,
which gives them additional time to share their ideas and receive feedback.
These ideas fit in with the theory of social constructivism,
which theorizes that reality is constructed through a social experience, and
does not exist until it has been discovered (Orey, 2008). All of these ideas are key in helping to provide
an environment where our students can learn in a way that is going to prepare
them most for the world that they will enter after they graduate school. Our world is increasingly more complex, and
the information we have changes rapidly.
Students need to know how to learn, not just acquire knowledge. We need to help our students understand the
structures that provide the greatest potential for an increase in knowledge,
and that also allow for accountability and recognition when knowledge needs to
be updated. It is not enough any longer
to simply teach our students a certain amount of information and then consider
our jobs to be complete—this will cripple our students in the future, when the
knowledge changes. We need to impart our
students with the skills to learn whatever they will need to learn as the world
around them changes at an ever more rapid pace.
Social learning, or cooperative learning, is one way that students can
learn to learn, and is especially valuable, because collaboration and
cooperation are the ways that learning and technology will be advanced in the
future.
There have been some very exciting technologies created to
help provide students with the opportunities to learn these skills. Social networking sites are some great ways
to help students collaborate and connect with each other. At the secondary level (when school districts
permit), many teachers will create a Group Page on Facebook to help students
find a place to collaborate, share assignments, and work out problems
together. This creates a public forum
that allows for students to learn from each other outside of the classroom, and
also creates a public record of their conversations so that students who look
at the page days (or even years) later can still see the information that was
shared. Another technology that creates
a very simple and exciting way for students to collaborate is GoogleDrive. GoogleDrive has several applications that
have a variety of functions, such as GoogleDocs (similar to Microsoft Word), GoogleSpreadsheet
(similar to Microsoft Excel), GooglePresentation (similar to Microsoft
PowerPoint), and GoogleForms (allows the creation of surveys). These tools allow students to work together
on the same document or presentation at the same time, on different computers,
and even in different locations. I have
used GoogleDrive for several class projects, and my biggest surprise was that
my students began to work on the project at home, even though it was intended
to be an in-class project (my attempt to reduce student homework load) because
they were so motivated to do well and contribute to their group. I also discovered (through my students’ use
of it), that there is a chat feature in GoogleDrive that allows students to
communicate about their ideas in real time.
I was also happy to see that I can set up the GoogleDrive account to
email me the text of the chats that students have, so that I can moderate their
conversations and make sure that they are being used appropriately. Here
is an example of a project that one of the groups in my class created last year
about the colonies.
Social learning is one of the most powerful ways to get
students excited about learning and create an experience for them that will
teach them social skills and also academic content and skills. Sometimes these projects can take longer than
traditional projects, both in regards to class time and also in regards to
teacher preparation, but in my experience, they have been the projects that
have created the most lasting learning for students.
References:
Orey, M. (2008,
December 15). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from
http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Main_Page
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI think you make an interesting point that students need to be taught how to learn so that they can use this skill for lifelong learning. I agree with you that teaching requires much more than just teaching students the curriculum. Wolfe (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) has observed that if teachers rely on the curriculum and solely teach to get through the book, they can do so, but without the students. Teaching students the skills which will help them be successful can for the most part be accomplished through collaborative and cooperative learning. By providing students with opportunities to learn from the various perspectives and learning strategies used by their peers, it can help them develop a better understanding of the content and how different learning techniques can be utilized effectively.
There are some amazing technologies which allow students and teachers to connect with one another. I think that the Group Page on Facebook is a great idea. Students love engaging on Facebook or Twitter so why not make it easy for them to collaborate for academic purposes. I also agree with you that the convenient accessibility of a public record which indicates who contributed, what date and time they contributed, as well as what was contributed, is a great resource for teachers and students.
I believe that iGoogle is perhaps one of the most resourceful technologies for academic purposes in existence. The numerous gadgets which can be made easily accessible on iGoogle can practically make up all of resources that students or teachers may need when engaged in learning, it is pretty much a one stop service. The company Google has stated that their mission is to, "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" (as cited in Hargis & Wilcox, 2008, p. 11). Many of the gadgets such as those you mentioned, as well as Gmail, bookmarks, blogs, wikis, podcasts, talk, news, and many more, are great resources for collaboration.
As you well know, these tools are very engaging for students, and can help motivate students to learn by bridging the gap between their personal lives, which often consist of using these same resources, with academics. It is great that you have been so successful in using these tools with your students. Surely your students will remember these experiences for years to come. Although these projects may take longer, why not teach the students to develop lifelong learning skills through something they want to learn and will remember, rather than teach them a curriculum they will soon forget. I hope you keep up the great teaching and I hope you find some new and creative ways to use social tools with your students.
References
Hargis, J., & Wilcox, S. (2008, October). Ubiquitous, free, and efficient online collaboration tools for teaching and learning. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE), 9(4), 9–17. Retrieved on July 28, 2013, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/search/advanced?sid=a3428060-0463-499f-bb82-0d1f8f5b6ed7%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=108
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program two: Brain research and learning [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Brett,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts! I have never heard of iGoogle before, so I'm intrigued to know how you have used it with your students. I looked it up briefly to see what it was, and it looks as though unfortunately Google has announced they will be discontinuing the service beginning in November (Google, 2013). Even though it seems as though I will not be able to use this service with my students, I would love to know how to use it so that I can use some of those ideas for my students.
Thank you!
References:
Google. (2013). What's happening to iGoogle?. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2664197?hl=en
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to integrate teaching within the Facebook world but I have been continuously shut down by administration because then I will have access to student profiles and it would be difficult the have access to their personal profiles and have that responsibility. As for using Google Drive I think it is a great idea to use and have worked with Google Docs before. I think students working collaboratively is a great real life skill for students to have and to have technology to help them socialize should be accessible. Currently on my lab top I had Microsoft Word on it and then had a virus that wiped my hard drive. So now I no longer have Microsoft Word on my laptop. However, Google Docs is not only a way to share information, but even more importantly it is a free for students and faculty to use.
Thanks,
Nicole