session+7

7.1 Collaboration

1. What is collaboration?

Collaboration is when people work together to achieve something that they could not achieve on their own. People in the group are open-minded and are equals. They all contribute. They build on each other's ideas. They share ownership of the outcome.

2. What are 3 ways in which students collaborate in your classroom and are they successful?

Student Run Discussion Levels of Reading Poster Activity Performances (original skits & Shakespeare scenes)

Overall, I would say these activities are successful. Sometimes, students work really well together. The collaboration is exhilirating and they do actually achieve something great. (One amazing performance a few years ago by a group of 9th-grade boys of the fight scene in Romeo and Juliet comes to mind!) Sometimes, students don't work well together and feel frustrated the entire time. When I have students collaborate, I give them a rough step-by-step procedure, but I really try to step back and let them figure out how to work together. I intervene only when absolutely needed. When I do these activities I care as much about the process as the product and the assessment reflects that (1/2 process and 1/2 product). I try to have students reflect on the process of working with others. Why did the group work or not? How did their individual contribution add to or take away from the process? So even if the group did not fully collaborate and achieve something great together, I still think the experience is valuable. Collaborating is a complex skill that students need to practice.

7.2 Video Response

media type="custom" key="10074463"

1. How can expanded use of technology help develop depth and breadth for our students?

Students who have a computer with internet can access information, increase the depth and breadth of their knowledge about any topic, and develop mastery of skills by connecting with others. In the book __Outliers__, Malcolm Gladwell writes that it takes 10,000 hours to master any complex skill. People who are successful are those who have opportunity and who are willing to put in the hours and hours and hours needed to master something. Gladwell points out that it's not that Bill Gates has some magical quality that others do not have. He had the opportunity (access to one of the first room size computers in the country at University of Washington and a high school that let him do his thing) and he and a classmate put in hours and hours and hours writing code. A computer with internet access gives opportunity to people who never had it before.

2. What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration?

Cooperation is when a group of people divide a larger job into a series of tasks to be completed individually - Randy Nelson uses the example of an assembly line. There is not much interaction.

Collaboration is when a group of people work together to achieve something they could not achieve on their own. They build on each other's ideas - Randy Nelson calls this amplification.

3. What are the challenges in getting students to collaborate rather than just cooperating?

It is easier to cooperate. It is more efficient to just divide up the work. There is less friction, less conflict. If part of the project is weak, it is clear who to blame. By the time a student enters high school, he or she has experienced "group work" and knows this.

I think asking students to think about the difference between cooperation and collaboration would be a good first step. I wonder how students would respond to the Randy Nelson video. It might be worth it to show it to them. I also love the idea of applying the principles of improv - accept every offer and make your partners look good - to collaborating in the classroom. It is important to give students the opportunity to work together and ask them to reflect on what is working and why it is working throughout the project.

** 7.3 Voicethread Definition **

Voicethread is a way to share ideas about something - a document, an image, a video - online. Participants can type their thoughts or share their thoughts through audio or video. The person who set up the conversation can moderate the conversation by reviewing and then showing or not showing comments.

My initial impressions: I think this tool is really great, but I'm not sure it is a tool that I would use on a regular basis. It is basically allowing participants to share their thoughts and we can do this in class without computers. I am so amazed by all of these web 2.0 tools but given our school's limited technology resources I think that I am going to have to be judicious about which ones to use. I could see using this over vacation or on a snow day, but I am not sure I would use it to facilitate a conversation amongst students in the same class. It would be interesing to set up a conversation with people from around the country or around the world.

**7.4 Immigration Voicethread**

WOW!!! I was so impressed with the sophistication and complexity of the students' thinking displayed here. They showed understanding of the issue of illegal immigration, the specific law, and the constitution. They showed their ability to reason and back up their thinking with specifics. Are these MHS kids? I think I recognized one student's voice!

I really liked the way the teacher set this up with three clear focused questions. Her use of voicethread is making me re-think my initial impressions of this tool. I don't think I would use it for day-to-day conversation but I could see using it as a culminating project. But. . . if a teacher is using it the way she did, is it a collaboration tool or a presentation tool? It seems as if the students collaborated offline and then presented their thinking online.

**7.5 Voicethread in the Classroom** media type="custom" key="10074473" I'm still not sure I would spend class time using voicethread. If I were to use it, I think I would set it up as a "save the last word" activity focusing on an image, a short video, an excerpt from a book we are reading, etc. The first student comments/asks a question, the second student must respond to the first student and build on his/her ideas, the third student must respond to the second student, and so on. That way students would be collaborating not just sharing their ideas about the same question.