Are we preparing students for a world of Mass Collaboration?
How do we prepare students for a world of Mass Collaboration?
To answer these two questions I did a lot of online research as the term 'mass collaboration' was relatively new to me. I knew of course of Wikipedia, the oldest and most refined mass collaborative project, but I lacked a working definition and deep conceptual understanding of the word and the creative process it represented. I first turned to Wikipedia for a working definition: “Mass collaboration is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature. Such projects typically take place on the Internet using social software and computer-supported collaboration tools such as wiki technologies, which provide a potentially infinite hypertextual substrate within which the collaboration may be situated. A key aspect which distinguishes mass collaboration from other forms of large-scale collaboration, is that the collaborative process is mediated by the content being created - as opposed to being mediated by direct social interaction as in other forms of collaboration.”
I then chose to read the introduction and first chapter of the new book, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing the World, by Don Tapscott, author of internationally best-selling books on the application of technology in business and society such as Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything and of Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation, online. In the introduction to his new book I found a description of wikinomics and mass collaboration. Tapscott states that wikinomics and mass collaboration is based on four powerful new ideas: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally. The new Web (the Web 2.0, the living Web, the Hypernet, the active Web, the read/write Web.5) is “becoming a place where the knowledge, resources, and computing power of billions of people are coming together into a massive collective force. Energized through blogs, wikis, chat rooms, personal broadcasting, and other forms of peer-to-peer creation and communication, this utterly decentralized and amorphous force increasingly self-organizes to provide its own news, entertainment, and services.” He furthermore describes today's Generation Y or 'Net Generation' and their "natural affinity for technology". In "instinctively turn(ing) first to the net to communicate, understand, learn, find and do many things", Tapscott argues that "these young people are remaking every institution of modern life, from the workplace to the marketplace, from politics to education, and down to the basic structure of the family".
I then focused my research on education and mass collaboration and found an excellent article on collaboration for educators, Can Web 2.0 Improve Our Collaboration? In this article I found a definition of collaboration I like which quotes Schrage (1990) who defined collaboration as a "process of shared creation: two or more individuals with complementary skills interacting to create a shared understanding that none had previously possessed or could have come to on their own." This article highlights how we as educators are using Web 2.0 to collaborate professionally, formally and informally; to share ideas, information and data to improve our pedagogical practice; and to create learning experiences for our student that are interactive, engaging, (authentic, and current) and that help students succeed at school.
An alternate view was presented by Wesley Fryer on his weblog speed of creativity blog. While he credits most school systems for providing the physical wiring necessary for broadband Internet access he expresses a need for educational reform so that our students "USE those wired connections for actual COLLABORATION rather than just information consumption (Internet research and other non-publishing activities)" and that replaces "high-stakes standardized testing...with a truly student-centered, constructivist agenda (inclusive of collaboration and project-based learning) that embraces diverse modalities for learning as well as assessment." I agree with Wesley and thus by answer to the first course question for this week, Are we preparing students for a world of Mass Collaboration? would be "Not as well as we could". Wesley then poses five questions that I believe can be turned into statements that can answer the second course question for this week, How do we prepare students for a world of Mass Collaboration?:
1. Provide more time for professional development opportunities for teachers to learn about and support each other in the innovative uses of IT that improve learning and facilitate global connections
2. Articulate a school-wide vision of global collaboration that becomes a vehicle for how learning takes place in and outside of school each day
3. Encourage students (and teachers) to regularly collaborate with other learners (and teachers) around the globe throughout the year
4. Embed more project-based learning opportunities in the school curricula
5. Foster a school culture of creativity, innovation, and (global) thinking
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