Saturday, April 14, 2012

Module 3 - Collaboration


I think how people interact with others differs depending upon their upbringing.  Whenever we are children, we typically learn to play with “the group” and interacting with other children becomes part of our development.  I think this is often different when you consider the person who was raised as an only child.  Since they are typically used to being alone and without siblings, they might not be as prone to interact or work within groups initially like others may be. 

Technology helps facilitate collaboration in many ways.  A prime example of this can be shown within this course that we are taking now.  Resources such as Google Docs and Skype are allowing us to interact, collaborate and share ideas in a group setting while being in various areas of the world.  San Francisco State University mentions a couple of constructivist principles that tie along with technologies such as these.  One is that people learn to learn as they learn, a concept that I have experienced throughout this class as I continue to gain more knowledge as we progress in this course.  Another is that learning involves language and is a social activity, two things that require interaction and collaboration with others (San Francisco State University, n.d.).

The following citation is for the study that I found that discusses improving learning through collaboration. 

Mendinhos, I. (2009). School library self-evaluation: A way to improve learning through collaboration. International Association of School Librarianship.Selected Papers from the ...Annual Conference, , 1-7. http://search.proquest.com/docview/236052251?accountid=14872

San Francisco State University. (n.d.). Principles of Constructivism. Retrieved on April 13, 2012 from http://online.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/finalprojects/eitankaplan/pages/principles.htm

2 comments:

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  2. Hi Ashley

    I do believe that there is some truth to your thoughts on how individuals interact based on their upbringing. There may be a majority of only children who do not learn to collaborate but I do know some who have learned to collaborate and share. I think your statement of how a person is raised has much to do with it. There was a study done with toddlers on how they learned how to share when a reward was involved.

    http://www.mpg.de/4376010/collaboration-children-chimpanzees?filter_order=L

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