Practically every technology tool can be used for social learning. There are different degrees of interaction and relationships between group members; from a simple writer-reader relationship, to a more interactive, fully collaborative relationship. When a student publishes their own work to a website, for instance, they will need to consider their audience and plan according to the audience members’ possible perceptions. Taking this idea a step further, a student posting to a blog site will need to consider the audience’s perceptions, but may gain feedback from an audience member as a posted comment. The blog author can further the conversation and, in turn, deepen their own understanding by responding to the feedback. And, to increase the level of interaction even further, students can work collaboratively on the same project at the same time (as on a wiki site), constantly sharing ideas, giving feedback, and making revisions as a team.
These technology tools can all be used to foster social learning. Students need to use appropriate social skills to interact face-to-face and in the virtual world of technology. It is important for teachers to be aware of these skills and to make a specific effort to teach them. For a technology- based, collaborative project, I believe there are three equally-important factors that will need to be considered. First, do the students know how to use the technology tool? Second, can the students use the tool to collaborate appropriately? Finally, what is the actual content that the students are responsible for learning? To become adept at these three things, students will need to be given explicit instruction and time to practice each independently before they are expected to be successful with an entire project.
I appreciate your three factors to consider when using a technology tool in the classroom. I know that in my classroom of third graders much practice will be needed using technology tools for them to become proficient enough to work in a collaborative technology group. When the tasks are approached with the questions that you have lined out it seems much easier to decipher if students are ready to start a project.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you mentioned that students need to practice before they can be expected to be successful with a large project involving a technology tool. This is something that I have noticed first hand. I have my students do numerous practice exercises in my TV Production class before their first real multi-scene video is produced. Even the documentaries we do on in-school activities need practice before we shoot them. Holding a video camera steady requires practice, much like every other technology tool.
ReplyDeleteThe three factors you mentioned were spot-on! A teacher cannot expect a technology-based project to work successfully without thinking about these three items. Much time must be taken to introduce students to the technology and make sure they can successfully utilize the tools before a task such as the ones we studied this week can take place. However, I do believe that once students know how to use these tools, they will fully enjoy using them to create artifacts of their learning.
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