Elements of Distance Education Diffusion
One of the aspects mentioned by Dr. Siemens was the collaborative interaction of Distance Education. Collaboration is one of the most interesting factors of educational technology. When I was at Seton Hall for my MBA my professor mentioned the concept of synergy. "Synergy is where two or more things applied together have a greater or significantly different effect than the sum of effects of the things applied separate" (Synergy, 2010). The ability to get more when people work together than if they worked separately is an intriguing concept. The human genome project effectively used this concept as well to map the human DNA in a short period of time. This demonstrated that although competition is good, collaboration might have a more beneficial effect.Collaboration is becoming bigger and bigger today. Some people might not even know that this is what is occurring but with more people connected digitally to each other, and resources being available to do so, it is inevitable that collaboration will take place. However, it is the job of educators to ensure that these people know how to do this effectively and know what tools are the best for what tasks. Social Networking and Web 2.0 are the resources that will help these individuals collaborate effectively. Some of the social networking sites like "facebook" allow people to collaborate as simple as sending emails to each other, to creating groups where people with similar likes and/or dislikes can communicate. The connection of these individuals all on the same network could keep a conversation going, even if the individuals are doing this asynchronously. Another resource that takes this a littler further is a Wiki. A Wiki makes users not only able to communicate, but build a product on a website. As Dr. Siemens explained, Web 2.0 or Wikis, multiple people could utilize these resources create a common product together without ever having to physically be together. Web 1.0 only allows for an author to create a resource, publish it, and edit it his or her self. The synergistic effect of social networking and Web 2.0 applications are creating a whole new environment for eLearning.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The future of distance education featuring Dr. George Siemens. United States: Walden University. Podcast retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4199707&Survey=1&47=4862829&ClientNodeID=984645&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Synergy. (2010, June 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Synergy&oldid=369478876
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Richard,
ReplyDeleteSynergy can be applied to a team; a team has a goal and motivation. The dynamics of the team are not mentioned this week by Dr. Siemens which disappointed me. There are wonderful tools for collaboration, but how many times have we been thrown into a group, assigned a project and carried the bulk of the workload only to be chastised in the end due to lack of motivation and no synergy? While I believe in the theory, only once have I had an experience in which the dynamics carried the team. Collaboration tools for business and education are only as good as the motivation, either intrinsic or extrinsic which carries forward the collaboration experience.
Thank you,
Bradley
Bradley,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that a group is only as strong as its weakest link. An alternative to help the motivation is to offer incentives or requirements for participation, as well as bonuses for certain aspects of the project.
Extrinsic motivators can come from the supervisor being able to keep track of contributions an issue reinforcement for positive participation. Intrinsic motivators can come from the supervisor taking their role as the educator about the purpose of the work so that each person can find their own motivation for completion.
Regardless of all efforts there will always be someone who gets brought along for the ride and get more than they deserve.
Collaboration is really becoming a huge concept now. I was reading an article one day about some men who area actually writing a book via Goole Docs. This is the first book of its kind, with all of the technologies that Google Docs offers, the writers are able to collaborate, edit, and chat with one another. I think is the start of something new.
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ReplyDeleteRichard,
ReplyDeleteCollaboration is the IT word of this time. In my school about 4 years ago we were introduced to Professional Learning Communities (PLC); teachers working together and learning together as a team to build and enhance the educational experience of the students. The idea is that each teacher is not alone with their classroom of students to find a way to reach each and every student and to make them successful (think No Child Left Behind). As a grade level team for instance (I teach in an elementary school) if a teacher is having trouble reaching a student or teaching a concept to a student(s) instead of being left to fend for themselves, every member of that grade level is responsible for the success of that student. The team meets and discusses ways and offers suggestions to the teacher to help them reach the student. The DuFours and Eaker have built an empire based on PLC and schools like mine who are on board, send ALL of their staff to be trained in this model. http://www.solution-tree.com/Public/Main.aspx At the heart of all of it: collaboration.
Good job.
-Christine
Hi Richard!
ReplyDeleteYou made some very interesting and important points about collaboration and the values of social interaction. I would go a step further and add that two people working together produce much more than than twice the sum of their separate works. Look at the power of a family for example. Group strengths are a very well known powerful source. I don't know that online collaboration will ever substitute for "real life" standard social activity, but I do think there can be an optimum value extracted from the exiting tools. A photograph or a video is a substitute in a way for a real person or real things. It has a very light comparable mass. What it does, though, is produce a kind of hope for a more solid communication line. In the past, I have found very good communication available through good books. There is no reason that good online messaging and communications through video messaging can't achieve communication levels satisfactory for educational purposes.
Bill
In a F2F environment, collaboration in some eyes is the best way to go, but in reality online communities can create very large scale collaboration efforts. It also provides the ability to collaborate cost to cost. In a corporate environment web conferences are becoming big; I am looking forward to the day when tools like Skype can deliver HD quality images via an internet connection. I think that will take the idea of social networking to another level.
ReplyDeleteTo all...
ReplyDeleteI think this post itself is a sign of the power of collaboration. With one post, I personally now have a collection of opinion on the topic.
Marsha.. that is interesting with the book. Do you have any more information?
Christine... We too were introduced to PLCs. It was interesting because I was just starting my masters and wit was a point of connection for me with collaboration. the interesting part of the meeting was the apprehension to actually using PLCs because of what it entailed. However, with my Masters studies focusing on such collaboration, i too feel that this is the new wave.
Bill.. I actually use the analogy with my students "If I can paint this room in a day, and you can paint the room in a day, how long should it take together? Most answer a half of a day. However, studies show that it can take even less time (most of the time) because the two are working together and not independently on the same task.
ASimmons.. Time will tell. Its interesting to see if we will get to the "Star Wars" like holograms for a collaborative meeting. I know we have quite a way to go for that but quality video conferencing is right around the corner