Wiliams, D. (2007). Collaborative learning. . Retrieved on May, 2010 from http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/c/collaborativelearningdylanwiliam.asp
Collaboration. [Online 1]. Retrieved on March 28, 2010 from http://www.malvarezonline.com/serendipity/uploads/image/collaboration5.jpg
¨EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF WIKINOMICS¨
First of all it is important to know that, in Tapscott, Don and William (2008) words, wikinomics refers to a new art and science of collaboration and focus it on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. Then, based on what they state, it is important to look for solutions when a problem emerges, sometimes we just find a single solution without thinking others can contribute to solve a given concern, therefore taking into account it mass collaboration plays an crucial role which is to help to progress a community when overcoming difficulties. Hence, the openness of wickinomics towards other business, bring innovation in ideas and break boundaries because thanks to the web people around the world can come with different thoughts which might help to reach knowledge required by sharing; at the same time, peering might be taken as a strategy to set goals and share experiences by producing information; consequently, sharing shows the importance to acknowledge the contributions made by people, and the respect one must have towards others’ opinions. Finally, acting globally moves us forward to know how globalized the world is and what the new demands are based on the consumer that way it invites us to raise awareness on how the world is looking for competitive people.
As a conclusion it all goes around principles, worldviews and business, these people views invite all to build up a solid concept on collaboration, given that it is the purpose of any community, values as sharing intellectual ideas cooperation are very highlighted because they are some characteristics people must follow in order to take part of a demanding and challenging world. Then, regarding our ELT context wickinomics opens an opportunity for having students interact through the web, keeping in mind all the resources we can find there; thus, opening a space for our students let teachers see their progress when critical thinking is being helped to be developed. In education collaborative work must be grown when setting goals and reaching results, however it just can be happen if the involved ones have a sense of commitment, responsibility, respects and they are led to one common goal, that is the sharing of experiences to gain new knowledge and construct own views.
Reference
¨COLLABORATIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING¨
Given that transformative learning aims at changing students’ role after participating in a course, it is important to consider that teachers are partly responsible to make this happen because it depends on how objectives, strategies and activities are drawn; however, as it is know it also depends upon students since they are responsible of their own learning gain through reflection and self study. It means that through empowering students to take part of discussions and the supportiveness provided by tutors and classmates a meaningful performance from participants can be expected.
Some advantages that collaborative work and transformative learning bring could be:
- They let participants to explore how learning can be fostered if a community helps to scaffold it.
- Collaborative work and transformative learning lead to self-reflect towards given issues.
- They also let personal growth when developing high thinking skills, taking responsibility of the own learning process and it might be fostered when the tutor present critical or open-ended questions.
- Collaborative work and transformative learning have students rise awareness about their learning when receiving feedback and the participants question themselves to reflect on their ideas.
- Collaborative work and transformative learning involve a wide range of materials advised and explored by the tutor or the participants which might contribute to spread knowledge and generate discussion.
- Participants ‘contributions might be richer in information given that in an online environment they have the chance to improve their viewpoints.
- Self- reflection from participants about their learning can be assessed when asking them to evaluate their own process.
- When participants are engaged in a collaborative work and transformative learning they are the center of the class.
- In order to promote collaborative work and transformative learning it is crucial teachers open new scenarios where learning might happen, this way students´ interests and likes might be addressed.
To end up, the advantages mentioned above might play positive roles in the EFT context if teachers:
- Creates a safe and supportive learning environment.
§ Sets clear expectations, provides explicit directions, and keeps the learning well structured and productive.
- Empower students to reflect on their own learning.
- Engage students in solving problems, making decisions and exploring intriguing questions.
§ Give timely and meaningful feedback to improve individual performances.
§ If s/he is open to use new learning tools as technology and is updated about the emerging styles of teaching.
Palloff, Rena and Pratt, Keith. (2007). Building Online Learning Communities.
¨COLLABORATIVE ORGANIZATION OF RESOURCES¨
| WEB 2.0 TOOL | BENEFITS | SUGGESTIONS |
| DELICIOUS | Share your bookmarks and access other people´s bookmarks. Search del.icio.us to find other people who are interested in the same topic and check out their research Tagging is possible to find bookmarks later | You can only access those bookmarked websites on the same computer you bookmarked them on. You can not bookmark too many websites. It is much easier to go back and locate a website using your tags in del.icio.us than going back through your history. Use good tags - and be consistent in your tagging. For example use podcast or podcasts but not both. Set up bundles and place the tags in the correct bundles. You can subscribe to RSS feeds that will keep updated on either recent bookmarking of websites using tags or if you like the way another user tags you can subscribe to their feeds. Add users to your del.ico.us network because it makes it easier to keep track of what your friends, or others are tagging |
| DIIGO | It offers a way to collect websites and information you find on the web. It allows the use of “tags” to organize the websites you bookmark. For instance, when you find a really great website on scientific inquiry, you could label — or tag It has a network sharing option in which you can share your bookmarks with others in your network. It allows you to automatically share certain bookmarks among your network based on the tags you assign. It gives you access to your bookmarks from any computer, thus eliminating the age-old question of “Did I bookmark that really cool website at home or on my school computer?” It offers advanced annotation tools that you can install in your browser, such as the ability to highlight and leave virtual sticky notes on webpages that you bookmark It allows more advanced search options It gives you the ability to download content for offline viewing | If you want to use social bookmarking to collaborate with your colleagues around your schools, you’ll need to agree as a staff on which social bookmarking site to use because your network of contacts is site-specific. That is, if you’re bookmarking sites in Delicious and your colleague is bookmarking sites in Diigo, you won’t be able to see each other’s bookmarked sites. So if you and your colleagues decide to adopt Delicious, for example, each of you will need to create an account and share your usernames with each other. The tagging and networking features are critical to the usefulness. To make the most of these features, you’ll want to ensure that you and your colleagues are using social bookmarking effectively. Once your school has selected a platform to use and everyone has created an account, it’s a good idea to publish a list of everyone’s user names, as well as a list of tags that are related to the goals. For instance, if one of your goals involves implementing brain based research, you might set a tag called “brain_based_research.” As teachers find websites on this topic, they can save them to Delicious or Diigo and tag them with “brain_based_research.” The article could also be tagged with the usernames of your colleagues to share with your school. |
| WALL WISHER | It gives you a virtual space where you can post short text notes in the same way that you could put post-it notes onto a notice board in your classroom. You can add images, video and links to other websites. It’s a neat way of getting a shared space to collect ideas from people for a brainstorm. Or to post resources for a topic. Students could ask questions about a topic which you (or each other) can then answer. Allow open editing work as individuals or classes embed into learning platform. Because wall wisher can play embedded media from linked urls, it can be a great way to collate in one place different types of work students have done. Wall Wisher only has two mode – one where only you can add stuff to the wall, and one where anyone can add stuff. | It would be nice to have a more controlled protection where you can set people up to access the wall, or need a password to get onto it. You can lock the wall to protect it once you have enough ideas on it. |
References
Haines, R. (2009). Improving school improvement with Web 2.0 tools. Retrieved on April 27, 2010 from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6461?ref=search
The Whiteboard Blog. (2009). The Whiteboard Blog: Interactive technology in the classroom. Retrieved on April 27, 2010 from http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2009/05/wall-wisher/
| | BENEFITS | SUGGESTIONS |
| BLOGS | They help to understand students better, they choose the topics on which to write, their blogs serve as a window into their lives at the time During the limited time we have in class, we cannot touch on many of the subjects students find interesting and pertinent to their lives, but blogs give them a forum in which to discuss and connect on what’s important to them Blogs are one way for students to make connections between what they’re learning in class and what they see outside the class By writing in blogs and responding to their peers, students can experience a real audience, one who is not charged with the task of evaluating them, but who will choose to respond only if they are interested Blogs allow students a relaxed place to practice invention outside of class may alleviate the pressure they may feel when they must develop their own topic and ideas without a prompt from their instructor. | It is advised blogs have the descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. It is important to take into account the interaction among the participants when creating individual blogs. |
| WIKIS | Advanced document and content management/development through open and simple editing access that encourages participation by many parties. Added possibility to control access to content by groups of users. Facilitating collaboration and communication between people in networks and enhancing knowledge building, sharing and searching. Easily include knowledge from outside sources. Easy building of directories, mapping of social networks and simple profile management. The use of wikis can reduce emails by 30% or more. The openness and transparency of wikis facilitates a large increase in work product reuse. Wikis are social software in that they help connect people across an organisation. Wikis can be used as a project mangement tool post meeting times, resources for a group, and for individuals to post what they're working on. | Protect certain pages from changes (find out how to LOCK pages). This prevents accidental erasures. See Manage Space or page options/settings. Set the entire wiki to private view (visible and editable only by members) if this is your school's policy. See Manage Space or Wiki Options/Settings. Set the entire wiki to protected or member-only editing, if you wish to prevent non-student visitors from making changes. See Manage Space or Wiki Options/Settings.
Make sure that any wiki tool you choose permits the options YOU need.
|
Danelutt, S. (2006). Benefits of Wikis. Retrieved on April 27, 2010 from http://www.customware.net/repository/display/wwyw/Benefits+of+using+a+wiki
n.d.(n.d).The benefits of blogging in e100. Rerieved on April 27, 2010 from https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/avee/web/blog_benefits.html
