Share your ideas, concerns, and questions about embedding a collaborative
project in your teaching. Reflect on the readings and activity sites and comment
on strategies you observed teachers use; what goals and/or objectives were
targeted with the use of collaborative projects? Do you have similar goals or
objectives for your students?
Today is Digital Learns Day! So I am teaching all my teachers about a new Internet bookmarking site called symbaloo.com. It puts all your favorites at your fingertips and allows you access at a touch of a button! Check it out!
ReplyDeleteAs for Collaborative projects, I worry about things like one person doing all the work, miscommunications of goals and objectives between teachers, teachers not having the same high expectations, and being able to work out time zone problems.
However, I do know that it is easier for global collaboration with all the new online, real-time collaboration tools such as hall.com or today's meet.
I too am worried about one person doing on the work. In the schools I work in absenteeism is a huge problem. Sometimes one person has to do most of the work, just out of necessity. I think the students should get used this idea, which is sometimes life is just not fair, and you have to carry others. Unfortunately that is the reality of it.
DeleteAaron,
DeleteI totally agree with you.. I have been the only Counsleor in this building since Christmas, becasue our other one went to another school. However, I have been carrying a HUGE load. We do get substitutes in here, however, I have to retrain each one that comes in, so really I'm better off being alone, you know..
Therefore, Life is not fair, but being in this situation has given me more strength and more power to speak up..
I'm extremely shy, however, I had to come out of my shell and speak up..
I had thought about skyping with other classes and collaborating through Google Docs but it never crossed my mind to be involved in a Global project. It kind of blew my mind! A concern I have is that the timeline wouldn't match up for everyone or you would come to a deadline/checkpoint and my class wouldn't be there!
ReplyDeleteOne of the projects I saw allowed classes to work at their own pace and just collected data along the way. I really like this because you can always use and analyze more data! The administrator of the project also listed the Standards that were addressed. Even though the standards may be different across states or countries, I would be able to match corresponding standards for my lessons.
There are a lot of opportunities available for my students that require minimal work on my part. I'm definitely going to have to do some more digging!
I always see post and I think how I’m going to do these types of activities in a primary grade. Then, I have to go and Google and research resources for small children. The things I find I would never think about on my own. I looked up on the internet this week where there is a mobile app to track the global adventures of Stanley and his friends. The article Flat Stanley Goes Mobile: Fresh Start for Popular Global Ed Project stated that there was a feature for teachers called “find a host” to make it easy to set up classroom exchanges. I think this would be a great way to get students writing and using the collaborative process. I did the old version of Flat Stanley project for the last several years and the students loved doing the project. I think I will be doing some more research and looking up this app this week.
ReplyDeleteMy family has our own version. We made a Flat Grandma and Grandpa and each of my aunts and uncles got their own! We are spread out all over the east coast and we have a family blog. It's nice for us to be able to share pictures of our Flat Grandparent adventures on a daily basis! And my students love the idea. I have my Flats on my bulletin board at school.
DeleteWe did this as well this summer. Two of my daughters and I went to visit my Grandmother in Fl. My oldest daughter and husband were at church camp and could not come with us. We made Flat figures of each of them and took them on all of our adventures & photographed each event. My grandmother had so much fun with this that she has made a flat figure for each of my daughters and has taken them on so many adventures since we have been home. The girls love to see the pictures.
DeleteThat's adorable you all..
DeleteI love Flat Stanley. It is so overwhelming and there are so many resources, sometimes I go back and will use Curious George, and the kids continue to learn lessons from him..
I think the biggest issue with integrating Web 2.0 tools into class lessons is the lack of technological infrastructure available in our schools. We are getting better in WV but mobile labs are often shared amongst 5-6 teachers, most schools have maybe 1 or 2 computer labs that are shared amongst the entire school and sometimes the labs have regular teachers using them as classrooms (as is the case with me). Then, you have issues with bandwidth and server speed.
ReplyDeleteThese can all be frustrating and cause an excellent lesson to go flat in the matter of minutes. BUT, I strongly believe that these issues do not outweigh the benefits gained through using new technology and global collaboration.
For instance, I read about an internet site that hosts Geography based games which allows students to compete (learn) against other students from around the world guessing world capitals and world landmarks. Students use clues that they've created to get others to guess the capital or landmark they've chosen.
Another example of the effectiveness of Web 2.0 tools used in the classroom is something that i and many of my colleagues use-Google Docs. This allows are students to work on cross curricular assignmens easily. We haven't used them in a way that brings other students from different schools and different countries into the project, but that would certainly be possible.
So many possibilites....
I love the idea of collaborative projects. I think that students really can learn a great deal from each other and it can help motivate them by giving them a feeling of ownership. They also teach students to work together as a team. What scares me about these projects is that I remember doing group work in highschool and college and how I was always the one to do most of the work because I wanted it done the right way. I was worried I would get a bad grade. I am totally type A and still get stressed out when having to depend on someone else to do what they said they would do. I'm just not sure how to solve this problem.
ReplyDeleteShelley it will take years to overcome the tendency to control. I have been a type A all my life but I finally realized that just because is is not done the way I would do it does not make it wrong or incorrect. Now if they do not do anything that is a different story.
DeleteI too am type A but in college I had no choice but to work with other people in some of my classes. I learned that just because someone didn't do things the way I would didn't mean their ideas were wrong . Some of them actually had good ideas, just different. I am still working on delegating things to other people. As a pastor's wife I am not able to do it all. My OCD kicks in and I redo things. This past year though I was sick and I have learned that stressing out over little things just isn't worth it. Things got done and that is what matters. Let your students learn to work together. They may actually learn from each others ideas. Maybe if they work together as students they won't be stressed grown ups.
DeleteI think that what concerns me the most in a collaborative project has to be the lack of effort for some students. I don't know how it is in anybody else's classroom but I have worker bees in my room that bust their behind to get things done and I have some moocher bees! I feel bad that whenever we do group work, I notice that the workers do exactly as they always do and the others sit back and get recognition for it even though they have not done much for the end result. I have noticed that collaborative groups work the best for us when I assign, or the students assign, tasks for them to handle. It is a long process but worth it, and it is getting easier as I integrate technology into the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI agree it can be a challenge getting everybody to participate in group work.
DeleteI do have concerns about collaborative projects. The first one is cheating, I know a girl who's now a senior in high school who had a junior science class that did nothing but online collaborative projects with different activities for Howard's different intelligences. She said she made up a couple of plays, copied and pasted and basically learned nothing. She is an honor student. I wonder if all this technology can be used to enhance cheating as well as learning.
ReplyDeleteNot to be totally negative, I really like the idea of pairing up students from different parts of the world to study their native habitats. It seems insane to me that someone could find West Virginia exotic. But sure enough, I have met these people who wonder at the trees. I would love to see a inner-city two middle school collaborative project about their local ecosystems. Cityscapes have transformed the animal life in its area. I think this unique perspective would be interesting to someone who can deer hunt in their own backyard.
Aaron, you are always going to have those who take the "easy" way out. But as you stated they "learn nothing". Some day it will come back on them and they will wish they had done things the right way so they could learn. We can't always catch the ones who are cheating and technology does make that easier but in the end the student loses because of their own actions. We can't do away with teaching technology just because a few will cheat. The majority of students will benefit from it. Teach to the masses, catch the ones you can, and let the rest suffer their own demise.
DeleteI beleive it is very important that we teach our students to work in collaborative groups. So many of our youth today (and even adults) are unable to cope with "other personalities" and this is a huge problem. They need to learn to work through diffrences to find a common ground, this is what a relationship is built on!
ReplyDeleteJill I agree and like projects that require both a local face to face partner as well as a global learner.
DeleteI am not a classroom teacher but I would think that collaborative projects would help the students engage with each other and build team skills. Working as a team is an important skill to learn. It will be used not only in a classroom but in the work force. The project I have created is for a travel brochure. I think a great way the students could use collaboration for this project is online. A goal for the students after they create their travel brochure they can put them online for other students to look at and discuss.
ReplyDeleteEach session i gain more knowledge from this class.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy bringing everyhting to school and sharing with the children. Like I said Voki has been a hit around this building. Now teacher's are using this in the class and they now have been doing class blogs..
It is so much fun..
Collaberate projects seem to engage students more and they have to work as a team. However, there are times that the kids are not holding up their end on parts of the projects. This allows them to have to communicate and collaberate with one another.Then I can use these activities as a chance to actually show them how to cope with one another..
I have discovered a number of web 2.0 collaborative projects (GeoGame, Google Earth Tours and Placemarks, etc.) that I am looking forward to using when I have my own classroom. I especially look forward to using Epals, where students can correspond with students around the world and take advantage of countless collaborative projects. My biggest concern is access to computers. In the middle school and high school where I do most of my subbing, we do not have computers for every student in the classroom. We do have computer labs, but as technology-based learning grows, so does the competition among teachers for computer lab time. If technology is going to play a prominent role in learning, it is imperative that students have access to computers on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteIt is imperative that we incorporate these types of activities in student learning. The jobs that our current students will have are going to be globally directed and require collaborative skills and critical thinking skills. The readings provide resources on how to communicate with educators and students across the wide world web. We currently have so much emphasis on test scores that some teachers hesitate to use these resources. The teachers that do are finding that they can cover CSO’s at a higher level of thinking, which increase test scores. If we design these projects appropriately we can still separate individual responsibilities that give all students the credit they deserve. One issue that goes widely unnoticed is parental support and thought processes. The parents of most High School students were traditional learners and often do not understand this type of learning. We have to make sure we communicate the positives learning skills that are developed with these projects.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of working with another teacher that you don't know can be overwhelming and intimidating. One strategy I saw teachers using was assigning responsabilities. This way everyone involved would know exactly what they're supposed to do. Goals would include
ReplyDeleteworking together with others both on and offline, learning how to utilize the technology,evaluate their own progress and of course learn the content itself.
My main concern with this type of project is how much could go wrong! I selected a collaborative project where a group of 4 or 5 classes write a play in the round. It takes the hiccups that could occur in one class to sabotage the activity and multiplies it by 4. If one class is delayed for whatever reason, the whole project would be delayed. If everything ran smoothly, it would be a thing of wonder. If a problem developed, it could be a world-class headache. (But then again, I think the students could learn some lessons by managing problems that arise. Here's problem-solving skills based on real life situations). Here are some of the "what ifs" that could crop up 1. School is cancelled 2. Limited internet access 3. mandatory testing interruptions 4. Computer lab is booked by a different teacher. The list could go on.
ReplyDeleteWeighing all these concerns, however, I still think it's worth a go. If this type of time-sensitive project seems too challenging, we could always switch to one with a more open time frame.
My goals for my students would be the same as with any other assignment: they give their best effort to complete the assignment completely and promptly; they learn something new; they have fun while they learn; they challenge themselves to produce their best product. Lofty goals, I know. You know what they say, though--"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
I think the same thing you do -- look at what could go wrong because it is out of my hands!
DeleteA close friend was working on the front lines of Afghanistan in a surgical bunker and recently told me about an experience that made me pause. It reaffirmed in my mind the importance of moderation in the use of technology. He is in his fifties and most of his fellow medical workers were in their twenties. As the story goes, the power went off for several hours and the patients needed critical medications. Those in the younger generation could not calculate the correct dosage without technological help. My friend had the ability to mathematically figure out what was needed without the use of the computers. He gave each of those in need the correct dosage. I wonder what would the younger generation have done without him in this situation.
ReplyDeleteBoy is that a scary scenario and you are right on what would have happened if he wouldn't have been there. While technology is great our world is becoming so dependent on it that we may not be able to live without it. While technology is wonderful it is important that we teach critical (survival) skills that can be used without technology.
DeleteThat's where teaching the basics along with technology comes in. When I was in college we had a times math test that calculators were not allowed to be used on. I was the first one done because I never learned math on a calculator. The students that depended on them in school struggled with the test. We need to teach the basics along with technology.
DeleteI agree that they need to know the "old school" as well as the new "techie" way!
DeleteWhile I really like the idea of collaborative projects I think I would pick a small project to start with and grow from there. There are so many different problems that could arise I think it is important to start small and expand while working the kinks out.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main problems with collaborative projects is time management, not knowing how long a task might take, and students working at different paces. You would have to have a good working relationship with the other teacher you are working with and have a very detailed plan of what was to be accomplished, which is why starting small and expanding the project through time would probably work best.
I just used edu.glogster with a class where each student had to build their own cybersafety glogster. I like the idea that edu.glogster allows you to set up a class where we all can see each other's end product. I have an idea I want to use with an 8th grade which is a joint project for students to collaborate and produce a class digital story of interesting facts of how WV became a state. Collaboration allows for ideas to jump start other ideas. The brainpower is endless.
ReplyDeleteI have come across several different collaborative ideas that I would love to use in my class, but like Adam time is a factor. I believe that if I did not coach any sports I could implement some of these plans. I did come across the website that talked about not having to do it all yourself and joining projects already started.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to work most of the cultural communications project outside the classroom saving classroom time for areas, things and items to highlight for everyone. The college students have access to WIFI secured and don't have to work under some of the same constraints as secondary students. Erin suggested I check out Edmoto as opposed to Facebook... I created and account and am checking it out. Like most of the web 2 stuff it was easy to set it up. Working it out will be a learning curve. I like that the students already are YouTube and Facebook experts and would have no problem using those tools and email. I liked the Edtech bulleted idea list tech tools. We already have a start using most of them. Today while thinking through some of the developmental steps suggested, I though how cool it'd be to have the class design it. I can lay out the goals and objectives and have them to use the tools to make it happen. Might be on to something here. I know they'd enjoy getting after it. So many things they study in college are hard to see application and outcomes let alone results. humm..
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the websites about collaboration. I was impressed with the creativity of the ideas. I also did not know there were sites such as these who provide a portal for schools worldwide to collaborate on a project. Having this resource makes the idea a lot more appealing to me. I am such a perfectionist, relying on somebody else to help collaborate the project causes a lot of stress for me! The different websites we accessed were well organized which eased my stress!
ReplyDeleteI also want to mention how much I love wordle! We use it a lot at work and I really enjoy it. I do the media system at church and even made one that represented the mission projects we do in church. I highly recommend it! You can make the world instantly so students can help create it on the spot in class!
I have several concerns and worries about collaborative 2.0 projects. First of all, just finding the time it requires to dedicate to such a project. Teachers these days are required to do so much testing and documentation and such that we don't have to time to spend doing the projects that would be the most beneficil for our students. Secondly, my concern is that we only have access to the computer lab one day a week. If we are doing a project with epals, like I would like to, it would be hard to find enough time to get everyone to the computers an ample amount of time. I have 4 computers in my classroom, but again, that would take a lot of time to get everyone on them an adequate amount of time.
ReplyDeleteIn an ideal setting and classroom all of my students would have laptops and plenty of time to dedicate to 2.0 projects. Maybe someday....
I can see the pros and cons to collaborative learning. I think by collaborating, students can learn a lot more about a subject then if just one teacher was teaching it. But, since I'm not in a classroom and don't know much about it, my concern would be that teaching with another teacher would be more challenging. I'm guess that there will be a learning curve to it as well. And I also think that the first time trying it would take some patients and knowing that you will have to make changes. You will learn what works and what doesn't and adjust. I think the biggest thing is not being scared to fail with an idea, knowing that you tried, and finding a way to improve it. We teach our students to do that so we need to take that lesson to heart ourselves, step out of our comfortable zone, and see how well some of these collaborative projects work! I have seen such good ideas from this class and can't wait to have a classroom of my own to try them out!
ReplyDeleteI beieve that collaberative learning allows students to develop a higher level thinking skills. Students want to participate because they want to be able to say what they contributed to the project. This also builds self esteem and promotes students responsibility for learning.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teacher I can remember collaberative projects where students seemed to be more attentive and involved in the assignment. When students stay on task they are less disruptive and this has a postive effect on the learning experience.
I believe collaboration is something everyone needs to learn how to do because it occurs our entire livetime and in all situations. Incorporating it into lesson plans requires planning. (No pun intended.) There are always things that students need to do on their own but they also need to be able to share those projects and learn to receive and give constructive critisism.
ReplyDeleteHaving used different forms of collaborative projects in the past, I can see the benefits of adding a larger audience as well as a larger group of students with whom we can collaborate. I wonder at times if students really understand how large yet how small our world is.
ReplyDeleteIn the Edutopia.org website I found two activities particularly interesting as I’ve seen them both used in classrooms, only without the collaborative part.
A colleague who teaches senior math seminar has had her students gather prices of specific products from different stores to teach the life skill of shopping. Her students then averaged them; and made budgets. I’m thinking this was also a TechSteps activity. This is the same premise as the “Global Grocery List” activity in that students are gathering prices and averaging them.
I’ve also used a “Square of Life” activity when teaching 7th grade science. It was an activity in the text book. However, there was no link or connection to other students. I am glad to find this and have passed it on to some friends who still use the activity as a population density activity and observation activity.
As a teacher I naturally have concerns about safety, cheating, time management,and access when it comes to technology. Those concerns are the very thing that will make the projects I do with students successful. Those concerns will be addressed before the project begins.
ReplyDeleteOne idea I have for a project is to do the Teddy Bear project that I read about in Ed.gov that is similar to the old Flat Stanley project. You send a teddy bear or any stuffed animal to another school, domestic or foreign, and he reports on his travels. The other school sends one to us. We report on its travels. This project can be tweaked to fit almost any of the CSO's for most subjects. I plan to have each student take the teddy bear home for a night and have them tell about their neighborhood (do they live in a town, city or on a farm? Do not give the name of city), the weather, what they eat,etc. without telling information about their families that could endanger them. I plan to use Epals, if the school allows it, and possibly animoto or Voki.
If I do a foreign school I think the students will be enthused with the project. Since this project will take a while to do I will have to be sure and get together with the other teacher on times and goals.
I am fortunate to be in a school district where laptops are given to every student, I believe from the fourth grade through high school. I don't know if the technology is available to communicate with other schools. I am hoping it is because it will enhance this project greatly.
I feel that it is very necessary to utilize the technology tools available to incorporate collaboration among students in their assigments. With the variety of programs available to encourage collaboration, it is much easier to utilize within the busy schedules of students than it used to be. A blog such as this would be very useful in any classroom. Coming from an administrative standpoint, I would like to utilize this for more colaborative planning with my teachers. It seems that there are more and more requirements placed on teachers already full plates to squeeze in one more thing. With the tools that we have discussed in this session, it would allow easier collaboration among all staff members, especially in a larger school where communication is often a barrier.
ReplyDelete