"One of the most important facets of collaborative learning is the interaction between individual and collaborative learning activities - between divergent perspectives and shared knowledge building." (Puntambekar, 2006). Working together to solve a problem or to achieve a common goal has always been more effective than solving problems and goals alone. Collaboration allows for different talents and abilities to be used to meet a specific objective whether it via online through distance education or inside of a traditional classroom setting. Collaboration is important in every aspect of the society that we function in, however, it plays a major role in the field of distance education. Collaborative interaction plays a role in the relationship betweeen teachers and students and it is indeed a new type of approach for instruction.
Collaborative Interaction's Evolution:
It is fair to say that collabortative interaction evolved with the evolution of the Internet which created the electronic mail evolution. Email has long been the most widely used Internet application (Electronic Mail, 2009). For some people, it is also their most frequent form of communicationExchanging information and communication via email was the first type of collaborative interaction globally. I am sure that online education's idea was sparked from the high usage of collaborative interaction that was taken place because of the Internet.
Online Tools
Blogs, Wikis, Email, and Disucssion boards are all online tools that are available today to faciliate interaction among leaners. Blogs are websites maintained by individuals that contains content. Our current use of blogs for this course is an example of how collaborative interaction is taking place. After we were assigned groups, we interacted collaboratively with each other via our blogs. The interaction occured by our weekly comments to each others blog which sparks conversations within our learning community. In the other course that I am currently enrolled in, Wikis were set up so that we are able to collaborate and interact online. Disucssion boards and emails give the most type of collaborative interaction because it allows for daily collaborative and communication between learners and instructors.
References
Electronic Mail. (2009). Retrieved December 31, 2009, from Living Internet: http://www.livinginternet.com/e/e.htm
Puntambekar, S. (2006). Analyzing Collaborative Interactions. Computers and Education , 332-351.
Useful Information:
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/796109-f1KWOQ/native/796109.pdf
This is a PDF file that discusses integrated set of software tools that helps facilitate the broad range of collaborative interactions.
Nonverbal Communication to Support Collaborative Interaction in Collaborative Virtual Environments for Learning
http://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/Publications/CEUR-WS/Vol-384/FULLPAPER-p1.pdf
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"I am sure that online education's idea was sparked from the high usage of collaborative interaction that was taken place because of the Internet." KC Davis
ReplyDeleteMy impression has been that online education was sparked by other distance learning programs that were already in place. The internet facilitates instruction more rapidly.
I agree that collaborative learning is essential in the learning process whether it is face-to-face or online. However, considering that e-mail has been the most popular form of collaborative learning, how do we advance our abilities to collaborate online when there are so many different collaboration tools and people have different technological abilities. I agree with Roger Goodson (2009) that “just because technologies exist that enable distributed learning does not mean that people know how to use them.” If the lack of technological skills impedes my ability to learn, I need to find a different educational tool or method. Therefore, I highly recommend participating in hybrid courses that could show me how to use collaboration tools more effectively.
ReplyDeleteGoodson, R. (2009, December 26). Computer-supported collaborative learning. Higher Ed. pedagogy, andragogy, and application. Retrieved from
http://higheredpedagogyapplied.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post_26.html
Kimberly
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your summary of the nature and scope of collaborative interaction. I wonder to what extent currently available online tools have enhanced online collaboration. Are more students collaborating online because of collaborative tools or because of the growth and acceptance of social networking? Additionally, does the degree of collaboration depend on the level of academic rigor? I wonder if an academic requirement drives the need for online collaboration especially for those of us who grew academically while developing face-to-face social connections.
Paloff and Pratt (2005) noted that encouraging students to celebrate differences and diversity in their groups while appreciating the richness of the learning experiences could be a challenge for collaborative interaction. I wonder if an online program can fully overcome that challenge given each student’s individual academic approach to achieving learning objectives at the doctoral level.
Just thinking!
David Abraham
References
Paloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement, "collaborative interaction plays a role in the relationship between teachers and students..". Collaborative interaction is the foundation fo a successful 21st century classroom. Collaborative interaction allows classmates to work together on building on there areas of strengths and strengthening the areas of weaknesses.
Deidre Buckhalter
@ Amy. You wanted to know how do we advance our abilities to collaborate online when there are so many different collaboration tools and people have different technological abilities. I believe that we should use what we are comfortable using. For example, in the courses now we are giving the option on which blog to use or which wiki to use. There are several blog softwares and wiki space softwares, but I used the one that I was most comfotable with.
ReplyDelete