6C+-+Lecture+Collaboration

6C Lecture Collaboration

Warning: A radical departure from the expected to follow...
=טובים השנים מן האחד=

Session Description:
==== In what is known as the “knowledge era”, Judaism can lay claim to the oldest inter-generational knowledge community – a page of Talmud. This session will investigate technological options for collaborative learning, including Googledocs, Wikis and mind-mapping tools. (//Note: Googledocs, Wikis, and mind-mapping tools were introduced previously. This session will focus on use of the Wiki as a platform for collaboration. A Googledoc might also have been used in a similar fashion.) // ====

Introduction
====This exercise will immerse you in collaborative exploration as an organically 21st century way to approach the topic of collaboration. Instead of reading a summary of my research and thoughts on this topic, you - the students - will build the equivalent of a lecture in three parts.====
 * Part one will summarize the importance of collaboration as a 21st century skill in both work and life-long learning.
 * Part two will focus on resources related to collaborative and cooperative learning, with the goal of both defining these terms and giving examples of ways that Technology can be used to support it in educational settings.
 * Part three will target collaboration and cooperative learning in Jewish educational settings. You will be asked to describe collaborative learning experiences in Jewish learning that incorporate the use of Technology.

Part One: Collaboration as a 21st Century Skill
Instructions: View this TED video of Howard Rheingold -" The New Power of Collaboration" Next, post either a quote from the video or a probing question about the video. Then, Required: minimum two entries in this section per student.
 * Post either a comment on another person's quote or
 * Post an answer to the probing question

Post your entries to this Page: 6C Part One Collaboration as a 21st Century Skill

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**Part Two: Collaborative and Cooperative Learning**
"In the collaborative learning environment, the learners are challenged both socially and emotionally as they listen to different perspectives, and are required to articulate and defend their ideas. In so doing, the learners begin to create their own unique conceptual frameworks and not rely solely on an expert's or a text's framework." Source: National Institute for Science Education, []

Instructions: Define collaborative and cooperative learning using the resources that have been added to the class Diigo Group and others you might find. (Note: use the tags "collaboration", "cooperative learning" to find all of the relevant bookmarks.) Give examples of ways that Technology can be used to support collaborative learning and note the types of learning theory that are at play. For example, would certain cooperative learning activities be considered Constructivist or Behavioralist?

Part Three: Collaborative Learning in Jewish Educational Settings
==== Create! Describe a collaborative learning experience in a Jewish educational setting (either formal or informal) that incorporates the use of Technology. You can either reference someone else's work or invent a program or lesson on your own. The description should be no more than 3-4 sentences. ====

One of the most important things regarding collaborative learning is the precept of needing a new way of thinking. Collaborative learning is not necessarily something we can overlay on what we are already doing in our classrooms. And using technology in the classroom is a means to an end, not the end itself. Being able to articulate our learning goals and outcomes and how collaborative learning can help us achieve them, is the first step. Then it is time to think creatively about the best way to meet those goals and outcomes: what tools can we use? what is the right strategy? . But unless we have a way of thinking about what it is to be a 21st Century learner and how we can best meet students where they are, and have clarity about what we want them to know, we will not be using collaborative learning and technology in a way that helps get them there. ~ Amy

It’s clear from studying about collaboration how important it is for a teacher/school to have clearly articulated goals and outcomes, deep knowledge of the subject, and the openness to let students explore. As educators, we need to both meet students where they are, and also remain true to who we want them to become and what we want them to learn. Perhaps in many of our schools, we need to be asking ourselves if – given what we know about learning and educational theory – we are still meeting our goals, and what roles do tools like collaboration and technology play. We take fullest advantage of the tools in our toolkit, and support tremendous learning and growth, when we array the tools at our disposal in a clear and well thought-out pedagogic framework. -- Michael

The more we have been studying collaborative, cooperative learning and how it can work well in our supplementary schools the more I think we also need to take a hard look at the messages we are sending our teachers as to the big picture goals we have for our children. In order to meet the needs of the 21st C learner we need to have 21st C teachers; this will involve making some hard decisions as educators, which may also call our ethical standards into question when it comes to staffing. Do we keep a teacher that is a good person but who is unwilling or unable to move forward in the changing pedagogy, as we want to move more towards constructivist classrooms? There is much to ponder here. - Babette

I think that technology really offers itself to collaborative learning. The opportunity, like this assignment, allowed a number of us to work on something, share information, and comment on one another's work without needing to be in the same continent. The opportunities for collaboration are endless. It is imperative that schools move towards shared learning experiences which cater to the student's needs and allow for such collaboration and cooperation as opposed to the straight forward lecturing and then regurgitating the information for a test.

Resources


Note: The activity in Part one is based on the collaborative learning strategy titled Save the Last Word which is described in [|http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/strategies/save-last-word-me.] The activity in Part two is a collaborative WebQuest. The activity in Part three is free-style sharing. and... Notice that this lecture follows the 21c format:
 * Frame Knowledge
 * Explore
 * Create/Generate
 * (Share)
 * Reflect