The Rheingold Discussion

• Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia? 

Answer: We do, but as Rheinghold pointed out, sometimes to our own detriment, as we have seen in overgrazing, overpopulation problems and other issues such as sharing a water source with mass society.  HOWEVER, collective  improvements can have great forward thinking and intentions, as we have seen in blogging environments, community efforts to clean our shorelines and neighborhoods and more.  

• How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?   

Answer: In my opinion even Facebook/Twitter and other venues can collaborate great thinking and sharing between many different people that may not necessarily come together in a regular community.  While the online classroom is a great venue to collaborate thinking and share ideas, technology can also bring together many different classrooms to assist in massive communication and collaboration of ideas and problem solving.  We see this in many classrooms around the world, the world classroom is still something that needs to be utilized more to ensure our younger learners are learning more about cultures and other parts of their world.

• Find a current research study that has been conducted in the last 5 years that supports collaboration as an effective tool for learning. Include the link and reference for this study in your blog.

Link: While this is an initiative to incorporate collaboration on the family, school and community level, this is an excellent initiative that should be paid attention too. http://www.wholechildeducation.org/ This organization is supported by companies that support the arts, sciences and technological collaboration of our children's learning around the world. 

Answer: A study and paper was conducted by East, Fitzgerald and Manke about the implications and tensions of collaborative self study groups.  Interestingly the study was met with frustration and issues regarding interviewees not feeling like their study groups 'studied' anything.  Other interviewees regarded the self study as something that could not be collaborative but shared with others.  Perhaps the study should have been called another term to alleviate the self vs the collaborative group. 

Reference:

East, K., Fitzgerald, L., & Manke, M. P. (2010). Identifying Implications of Tensions in a Series of Collaborative Self-      Study Groups. Studying Teacher Education, 6(3), 281-290.