Keith’s presentation regarding technology in collaborative learning in K12 is somewhat controversial for me. I have a six-year-old son and the thought of his class using technology to collaborate seems unrealistic. After all they are just learning how to navigate socially in groups. Adding a layer of technology seems out of place. In fact in my research for the Method vs. Media debate I came across an article by Todd Oppenheimer that better expresses some of my concerns about technology in K12
First, the wiser captains of industry have never asked schools to emphasize “technology skills.” What they prefer, and are in fact dying for to better compete in a global economy, are graduates with skills in areas that increasingly get neglected: writing and reasoning; reliable work habits; the capacity for concentration and face-to-face communication; a sense of history, cultural anthropology, and – for jobs in the technology sector in particular – higher math and science. “Want to get a job using information technology to solve problems?,” a report from the Information Technology Association of America, once asked. “Know something about the problems that need to be solved.”
But in the higher grades there may be instances where technology can enhance a learner’s involvement in collaborative work. I appreciated hearing how Jered and Dan used technology in their classrooms and I thought back to my days in middle and high school. The class that stands out as a positive example of collaboration was Mr. Siemankowski’s science class. Sadly I can’t recall the exact class–I think it was AP Physical Science or something like that.
photo courtesy Flickr user yuan2003
Anyway, he would explain a few concepts and then throw us into groups back in the lab area of the class and have us answer what I considered a really difficult scientific question. We would have to form and then test our hypothesis. I remember being thankful to be in a group because I was often unsure of where to start. Somehow we lumbered through the beginning and really started brainstorming and trying out our ideas. I thought this was pretty fun and felt a great sense of accomplishment when we finally arrived at what we considered a sound answer. Left on my own I never would have gotten as far in problem solving as I did in a group.
I’m not sure how introducing collaborative technology would have changed this effort. We may have been able to explore ideas through simulations that we couldn’t have in class due to safety concerns, time, etc. But I’m unsure how utilizing a collaborative technology such as a wiki or blog would have enhanced that experience. Perhaps it would have been easier to pick up the next day if we were posting things to a wiki/blog. Or homework may have been easier because we could asynchronously collaborate where we couldn’t really do that before.
Where I get really excited is in technology’s ability to break down barriers of distance. What if students were asked to collaborate with other schools in our country or even in another country? What if collaboration could take place with an adaptive expert? There are some exciting possibilities there.
