Module 3 Blog

Rheingold’s TED talk makes sense.  I agree with him that society has always taken collective action to move society ahead.  Humans have a nature that encourages them to reach out to others to make connections.  Rheingold makes this point in his illustration of bring down the dinosaur for food.  Working together betters society.  The Prisoner’s Dilemma, as Rheingold illustrates, is a twist on the idea that humans work together.  Yes, humans can work together; however, inevitably, humans will choose their own safety over that of another.

Seth Godin offers a different perspective with his idea on change and tribes:

Working together for a common cause creates change.  Collaboration integrated with constructivism, then, shows links on one person’s learning/experience to another’s.  Driscoll (2005) noted, “constructivist theory rests on the assumption that knowledge is constructed by learners as they attempt to make sense of their experiences” (p. 387).  My knowledge is different from your knowledge because of my own experiences.  Linking this to Godin and Rheingold, it is evident that collaboration is a part of survival.  However, collaboration must be thoughtful and reinforce the good of the group (think back to Rheingold’s example of the dinosaur and Godin’s thoughts on how things are consumed).  Rheingold’s perspective offers how a group survives because the group shares a common goal.  Godin, on the other hand, offers a perspective that a goal makes a tribe that will support a goal.  The link between the two is really constructivism and collaboration.  Constructivist look to gain and build knowledge based on experience (experience of hunting the dinosaur, experience of a shared interests).  Collaboration occurs when we seek out those that have the common goals we have.  We then take these interests (Godin) to be successful (Rheingold).  The great thing about both Rheingold and Godin make the important point that you can seek to enhance your experience with those that have that experience.  Knowledge acquisition, then, is seeking connections through collaboration.

The research study I reviewed is an overview of the last twenty years of research related to the application of technologies used for collaboration (Resta & Laferrièr, 2007).  The authors state that in order to understand the wide interest in technology and collaboration, the history of these technologies must be understood.  Resta and Laferrièr, (2007) wrote,  “The recent interest in technology-supported collaborative learning in higher education represents a confluence of trends: the development of new tools to support collaboration, the emergence of constructivist-based approaches to teaching and learning, and the need to create more powerful and engaging learning environments” (p. 65).  Interestingly (even though this is in the five year requirement), much of what is discussed here is already out of date.  The collaboration that extends out of constructivism and technology have occurred and moved to new labels.  This article, though, is important in that it shows the beginnings and the possibilities of how beginning change.

References

Driscoll, M. P. (2005).  Psychology for learning instruction (3^rd ED).  Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Godin, S. (2009).  Seth Godin Explains Why You Need a Tribe [video file].  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6vpBDFoMqc

Resta, P. and Laferrièr, T. (2007).  Technology in Support of Collaborative Learning.  Educational psychology review, 19. 65-83.  DOI 10.1007/s10648-007-9042-7

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