Collaboration

What is the role of collaboration in understanding? This question reveals my social constructivist nature - how much do we build understanding through collaboration, interaction, etc. And if it helps increase understandings and knowledge then what is the responsibility, and how do we build in collaboration in learning particularly in virtual environments? And if it helps in learning, how can it help in teaching? As librarians we are often collaborators in teaching, so it helps to understand or at least considered its role in teaching and learning.

I like how Wiggens and McTighe break down understanding into six facets - application, empathy, explanation, interpretation, perspective and self-knowledge. I think maybe collaboration makes all of this happen much faster. At the risk of getting myself into trouble, I'm backing up this assertion with something Mary Ann wrote after we completed our group wiki assignments. Although, may of us couldn't see it from our perspective (I couldn't anyhow), she mentioned how impressed she was with the fruits of our labor (yey!) and how we were less likely to get to our level of understanding of instructional pedagogy without group collaboration. Being a student and never having taught, I'm still not totally clear as to how this can be measured, but since she has more experience in teaching, I'm going to take her word for it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

In a virtual environment, I feel collaboration is imperative just to keep motivated. Personally, it is almost impossible for me to finish a course online without some kind of interaction. Why? This brings to mind Lave and Wenger's Situated Learning Theory. Learning is a social rather than strictly cognitive process. Although it's possible to learn without much interaction, don't we learn so much more when we do? I imagine it is a reciprocal relationship between students and teachers. To answer the question, "...if [collaboration] helps in learning, how can it help in teaching?", I would argue that teachers are better teachers when collaboration is involved. There is more give and take. In a sense, student and teachers feed off each other and garner mutual understanding.

Online v. F2F

In what ways is online learning qualitatively different than face to face learning? In this instance you get to pull on your own experiences as well as the readings, and answer as well as critically contribute to the debate surrounding online learning.

The major qualitative difference that comes to mind regarding the differences between online learning and F2F learning is time to reflect. In an online learning environment, you are given time to formulate thoughts and come up with more refined questions and responses to inquiries via communication channels such as email or a discussion board. Because of this, learners can also comment long after an initial question is posed allowing for more opportunity for engagement. From a teacher's perspective, it seems there is better opportunity to hear everyone out in the class. In a traditional F2F setting, some people are not comfortable speaking out but they may be more likely to voice their opinions, questions and concerns in an online environment.