Since the dawn of the earliest classroom, teachers around the world have always valued collaboration. “Group work,” as it is more commonly known, was designed to bring students together for a common purpose. By putting students in groups it was felt that alongside the curriculum they would also be learning important skills such as cooperation, communication, leadership, etc. With lots of research to draw upon what we know to be true is that good collaboration takes “practice.” The skills required to work well with others are refined over time by having experienced both great group synergy as well as dysfunction. Over time we learn from our successes and failures, and we grow as individuals. Experience teaches!
Fast forward to the 21st century. Today the word “collaboration” has taken on a much broader meaning. New tools have emerged in the last few years that have pushed the idea of “working together” to a whole new level. Free tools like EtherPad let multiple authors work on the same document . Everyone writing from anywhere, any time. One version living on the web allows for a new kind of group editing and revising while opening up new work flows that we are only beginning to explore. Business and industry have already embraced these tools not only for their cost-saving appeal but also for their ability to share ideas and information across an organization. States and governments are exploring this space as well. Just yesterday Wyoming became the first state in the U.S. to announce plans to move all government employees to Google Apps for Government. This suite of collaborative tools enables unprecedented opportunities for collaboration, communication and creativity.
So where is K-12 education? Happily it is right in there. Schools today are experimenting with these new tools to enhance and deepen learning across the curriculum. Colleague and friend Julie Lindsay attempts to do just that with her global initiative, the Flat Classroom Project. This project brings together students from around the world to think, share and work at solving a common challenge. These students learn and create together outside of the walls of their traditional classrooms and the results are amazing. In our very own backyard we have the E-Learning Consortium, which also seeks to expose our students to these rich learning opportunities. Today’s 21st century teacher recognizes that in order for their classrooms to remain relevant they must embrace these new tools and give students experiences to collaborate with them. Students are experts at using technology to socialize and communicate, however, they need to be taught how to use that same technology to collaborate and create. It is only with this continuous practice will they develop new skills and literacies that will serve them well in the world they are about to enter. Whether it be wikis, Skype or Google Docs, it is hard to ignore the power and potential that can be harnessed in a phone or laptop. The opportunities are there for the seizing.
About Justin Medved
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