Collaboration

I do believe that humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group. It’s human nature for people just to interact with other people and is found as acceptable behavior.  “Human nature can be most fundamentally described as a mask of acceptable behavior with regards to the other people with whom one chooses to interact” (Hubpages, 2012). In the video with Rheingold, he explains the prisoner’s dilemma and how humans must work together in order for everyone to achieve. If we as humans do not trust each other and work together, it can be detrimental to everyone. Rheingold (2005) explains how a person with goods and a person with money are not going to make an exchange because they can't trust each other. If they were able to work together and agree, then both parties win. Rheingold uses the example of wikipedia and how thousands of people came together to create a free encyclopedia. This is an example of how humans interact and work together for the good of mankind.

Based on constructivist principles, technology can facilitate collaboration amongst learners in several ways. There are technologies such as wikis that allows for group collaboration through shared knowledge. They also support collaboration in such ways that encourage development of group projects. Project management tools is another technology that facilitates collaboration. “Project management tools are multi-functional systems that often deal with logistical issues, like scheduling, time tracking, task management, resource allocation, collaborative writing or edit­ing, communication, file sharing, and process documentation” (Deal, 2009).

A research study that supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning is called “Collaboration Tools.” This study was conducted in 2009 by Ashley Deal. This study can be found at: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/PublicationsArchives/StudiesWhitepapers/CollaborationTools_Jan09.pdf

 

References

Deal, Ashley. (2009). Collaboration Tools. Carnegie Mellon. Retrieved from http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/PublicationsArchives/StudiesWhitepapers/CollaborationTools_Jan09.pdf

Hubpages, (2012). Animal instincts in human reactions. Retrieved from http://notpc.hubpages.com/hub/Animal-Instincts-and-Human-Interaction

Rheingold, H. (2008, February). Howard Rheingold on collaboration [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html


Blogs I responded to:

http://learningtheoryeducationaltechnology05.blogspot.com/


http://corablades1.blogspot.com