Thursday, October 25, 2012

Connect, Communicate, Collaborate - Learning in a changing world

It is a red letter day for me.  I have finally got back to my blog after far too long.  The impetus in doing so is working with colleagues on developing ICT skills in a designated area.  How germane - it is about blogging in the classroom setting.

My "go to" starting point is Judy O'Connell and Dean Groom's great book Connect, communicate and collaborate - Learning in a changing world. Chapter Three on Writing and Reflecting is particularly informative.
As Wall and Ryan point out "Students no longer work in isolation" (Resourcing for curriculum innovation - Learning in a changing world by June Wall and Sandra Ryan) and that "Working collaboratively in all aspects of life has been acknowledged as a core element for education and employment." page 25.

"Students can use collaborative group work spaces to develop group assignments and produce material faster and with possibilities or more depth than the face-to-face mode of working on one physical document.  Wikis, shared work spaces such as Google Docs, and collaborative communication tools such as Skype enable students to reflect on team members' work and critically analyse and edit in real time" pages 25/26

Wall and Ryan highlight that" blogs, which enable sharing of ideas and resources. the comment mechanism on a blog can also be used for higher order thinking responses by either an anonymous user or a named student.  As the blog visitor reads the posts and comments, they share thoughts and information in the development of the idea or concept in the post."