Collaboration

© Paweł

COLLABORATION


”Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean” this quotation by Satora expresses the great power of collaboration.

Learners can learn an enormous amount collaboratively not just from the teacher but from the other people around and from the other people within the community. Collaborative work allows for classrooms to be more cooperative than competitive. Students begin to view one another as resources rather than sources of ridicule. The social context within which a learner resides is crucial to their achievement. (Salomon, 1998 Petraglia,1998).

Constructivism discovered that it is extremely efficient to put children to work together. When they are in a group, they can elaborate and reflect on not only their own ideas but on those of other peers. What is more, the exchange of ideas within groups not only arises learners’ interest but also develops the ability to think critically.

 Teacher’s role

 In collaboration teacher’s role differs. From material deliver changes into a designer learning facilitator. In collaborative learning teachers encourage open ended discussions, design project and problem based tasks, match tasks with students' interests and zones, scaffold learning through peer interaction and encourage group reflection. They must guide collaborative learning within the classroom and beyond.

 A situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together is called **COLLABORATIVE LEARNING **.

 - By ‘two or more’ we may mean a pair, a small group (3-5 subjects), a class (20 subj. Up), a community or even larger unit – a society.  - ’Learning something’ may mean – follow a course, study course material or perform learning activities.  - Togheter may indicate various types of interaction: face to face, computer discussions, synchronous or not etc.

There is a distinction between **COOPERATIVE LEARNING** and **COLLABORATIVE LEARNING**!

 Beyond the classroom

To collaborate on a global scale students may use various technologies. These technologies are very often reffered to as collaborative software (or groupware). Thanks to the collaborative software we can learn whatever we want, whenever we want and from whoever we want as people can work together irrespective of their geographical location.

References

1. Petraglia, J. (1998) The real world on a short leash: The (mis)application of constructivism to the Designe of Educational Technology, Research and Development; 1998; 46, 3; ProQuest Education Journals 2. Gerlach, J.M. (1994) "Is this collaboration?" In Bosworth, K. and Hamilton, S.J. (Eds), //Collaborative Learning: Underlying Processes and Effective Techniques,// New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No.59.