5b+Collaborative+Learning-New+Forms

In our digital world, where students’ ears are plugged into an iPod, their eyes are locked onto a computer screen, and their hands are busy texting on their mobile phones, it’s easy to focus on the devices and conclude, often disapprovingly, that they are shutting themselves off from “the real world.” ﻿This quote, taken from an article entitled [|How Technology is Transforming Learning and Teaching] encourages us not to be gatekeepers in holding back the learner from exploring wider avenues of knowledge. In fact, rather than closing themselves off from the 'real world' they are going beyond usual boundaries and exploring elsewhere. That can be risky business: entering into uncharted territory. Collaborative learning is an opportunity to explore the expansive nature of the web by bringing it to a very personal level---working in concert with other learners. That can be a very powerful experience. If I were to use myself as an example, in the past few weeks I've gone to web places (Thanks to Deborah Nagler) that I did not think were even possibilities, let alone adding these tools to my PLE! We collaborate with each other virtually, but if we had even more time, the potential to collaborate in pairs would have been a nice bonus. That is the power of collaborative learning. This past Sunday, I met with one of my teachers to discuss the year and what his successes and challenges have been. I talked about incorporating collaborative learning in his advanced Hebrew class. He said that he was very uncomfortable with it, and was a 'frontal teacher'. I talked about the energy that occurs when students learn together, and sent him the piece on Collaborative Learning that we read. I doubt that he will be convinced. The National Institute of Science offers some advice in an article entitled [|"Doing CL"]:  //What is important is not how much or how little lecturing is done in the classroom, but rather how active the students' learning process is. Learning can not occur with passive students (Bonwell and Eison, 1991). // ﻿ I will visit his classroom next week, and begin to offer him some small steps. The question that remains however, is not whether collaborative learning effective---but how do we (in a part time supplementary school environment) work with teachers so they feel comfortable with this great potential for enhancing learning energy in their classroom?