Module 3 Collaborating in a K12 Environment using Technology

Before the digital age or when I was in school I can remember being asked as a student to collaborate with students from accross the country. Back then the only way to communicate with each other was either by a very expensive telephone call or via good ole United States mail service.  Back then we called this having a "Pen Pal" that we were to share our experiences with and get to know what it was like living in a different part of the U.S. As you can imagine, there were several draw backs mainly was the time it took to get a reply from your Pen Pal.  When our letters came we were all excited to share what was written and read the letters to the whole class. 

Slowly at first, the technology revolution was taking shape, first there was the personal compute that allowed us to type our letters on the compute and then print them out and send them in  the mail same as before.  In 1971 Ray Tomlinson developed a web based method of sending mail to another person that was called "Email" or Electronic Mail.  It was not very popular at first due to the lack of the personal computer.  Starting in the early 1990's the Internet became popular and available to the masses, the reason for this surge was the cost of computer became afordable and Tim Berners Lee developed a easier way for the layman to use the Internet called World Wide Web (WWW).

Humans are social animals and thrive in social interaction.  To substantiate this statement all one needs to do is walk into a high school classroom and listen to the students talk to each othe when given permission to visit with each other.  I agree with Rheingoldd's assessment on Wikipedia in the fact that it was intentially developed to allow individuals to post and edit the information that is contained within the web site.  However, with that said one needs to be careful with the content to ensure its validity.

Bellow (2013) when asked what technologies should every teacher know right now stated that for students they should know how to use wiiVideo and UJam are tools that allow students to create their own videos and music online for free  Teachers can easily create lesson plans that would allow a student to conduct research on a given topic and then create a short video presentation on the information found and present the video to the class.  Edmodo has been touted as a Facebook like social media site for schools.  Within Edmodo students can be taught how to act like a responsible digital citizen, and allows students to communicate with students and teachers in a secure envrionment.  The last tool he recommends is a automated toole called If This Then That (IFTTT) which helps teachers control information.

It is still interesting to me that with the fact that computer technology has been around for twenty years or more there are still individuals who are afraid to use technology in any form.  As a result we are not being able to allow our students to collaborate with students in distant lands for fear of them being exposed to for the lack of a better term evil.  If you  teach in a forward thinking district where they embrase technology into the classroom Mandernach and Taylor (2011) provide a wealth of information on how to effectively integrate Web 2.0 applications that foster student engagement.  Taylor (2011) suggest that you consider a number of factors when selecting web 2.0 tools to use in your classroom, such as your learning objective, course level, student population, class size,  and access to technology.


 References:

Rheingold, Howard  video  retrieved from : http://www.ted.com/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html
Bellow, Adam retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/11/27/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-future.aspx?Page=2&p=1

Mandernach, B. Jean retrieved from http://teachpsych.com/ebooks/pse2011/vol1/volume1.pdf#page=224

Taylor, Sarah S. retrieved from http://teachpsych.com/ebooks/pse2011/vol1/volume1.pdf#page=224