One of my “secret” reasons for trying to bring my classroom into the 21st century with online activities is for team building purposes with my students. I was happy to see my belief substantiated in chapter one of Collaborating Online. “Given the importance of safety and trust for collaboration to happen, it is critical that time for community formation be built into the design of the class before any collaborative group work is attempted.”(Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 13) Even though we spent time in this class getting to know a little about each other, I had not thought about incorporating time for community building into my own lesson planning or projects.
One way this could be accomplished would be to have the students build a web page about themselves. As noted in chapter five of Teaching Online, “Besides helping to break the ice, these areas provide an important service by allowing students to refer back to identifying details about their classmates as the course progresses.” (Ko & Rossen, 2004, p.97) This was helpful to me during the group selection process for this class. It was nice to look back and get a sense of who I will be working with.
Chapter 12 of Teaching Online makes a very interesting point: “Making the use of the Internet optional rather than incorporating it into the curriculum dooms it to failure.” (p. 258) Incorporating the use of the Web into the curriculum should lead to increased student interest in class and a variety of group projects that can increase learning.
According to an article in International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, small groups of 3 to 5 members lead to optimal learning. “The use of collaborative, team based learning activities in online courses can create a synergy of learning as result of the interactions associated with teamwork, that will create a greater accrual of learning, than the simple sums of individual learning efforts.”
http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jun_04/article03.htm
2 comments:
Pam,
We could be considered a "small group", couldn't we? Putting our class project together has prompted some questions in my mind that Palloff and Pratt (2005) bring up in their section on "Virtual Team Dynamics" on page 14. It reminded me of training that I received in state government on working in teams to develop a strategic plan, request for proposals, or a plan for a technical project. Invariably, the trainer started us off with introducing ourselves to one another, often by having our neighbor interview us then introduce us to the group. From this, we often found that we had common interests, and developed a sense that this other person might be O.K. Then, usually, a team leader was identified and the process of organizing the tasks that were to be performed began. There was always a period (called "stormin'") when differences of opinion were aired, often with passion, before the next stage (formin') began, when team members were pretty much on board with the resulting plan. Assignments were made, team members did their tasks, then the project was completed and presented to the group for discussion. I see a similar process for us, even if there are only the two of us. I have developed a good, though incomplete, view of you through your blogs, Pam, as well as your contributions on Breeze. I believe that we'll be able to work well together and look forward to that process beginning!
Regards,
Paul
This is a great discussion thread. Paul, I see you are a following of group dynamics: forming, norming, storming, and performing. So often in group work, teachers and students can often "forget" that storming (or conflict, even if mild irritation) can be a normal part of group interaction. And not only normal, but necessary in order to get to the next stage of growth.
Caryn made a great comment about the time involved in groupwork--this was made evident in our class this week. Kelly, who is working independently on her Breeze tutorial due to major time zone differences, has completed her project. Most of the teams, however, have just had their first meeting.
In the end, collaborations take time, and usually some direction. However, I believe the benefits of that collaboration in terms of improved quality of work, and social learning experiences for in-depth and long-term retention, can't be beat.
Thanks for a great post, Pam.
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