The Power of Collaboration

Collaboration by LoriB
Originally uploaded by LoriB

Here's my picture from Day 9 of my 365 Photo Project. At first glance it just looks like teachers in a computer lab, probably chatting with other. Nothing extraordinary. Ahh, but that's where you are wrong. This was really quite a lot more than what meets the eye.

I facilitate technology study groups in each of our 3 elementary buildings. We meet in person periodically to learn about some new tools and then the participants also work on assignments between face-to-face meetings using what they've learned about. This year we have a theme of collaboration.

At this particular meeting, instead of learning something new, the group decided that they wanted time to work on some projects using tools we'd already learned about, but having me there to support them. They'd all been having trouble trying to figure out ways to use Google Docs, which was their assignment from last time.

This session began with a few questions I could address and then "the magic" happened. Someone leaned over and began helping the person next to them and before you knew it, I was the superfluous one in the room! Those who had thought they didn't know what to do or how to use the tools, began helping each other. Ideas began to flow, projects started taking shape, and the excitement level started rising. Two participants, from 2 different buildings, who were already more familiar with Google Docs, started talking about Scratch, a programming tool. They began teaching each other, sharing experiences and planning some collaborative projects for their students. Time flew by and everyone left our session enthused and fired up about what they had begun and where they planned to take it from here! And the best part is that none of this came from me, the teacher, the facilitator of the group! I had been the observer, not the leader.

So what do we, as educators, take from this? How can this inform our classroom practice? In our classrooms we need to encourage collaboration between students. We need to have times where we set the stage, get things started, and then stand back and let our students talk to each other, take charge of their own teaching and learning, struggle, share, negotiate, laugh, make mistakes, problem solve, and help each other. We may not know ahead of time exactly where such an environment will take our students, but don't we all dream of a day when students leave our room talking emphatically about what they learned and how they are going to use it tomorrow? Ahhh, the power of collaboration!

Personal/Professional Learning Networks

Creating your own network of resources, people, ideas, podcasts, blogs, wikis, web sites, etc. that you use and learn from regularly is one aspect of how technology serves as a "flattener" in today's world. The Internet is immense and is an exponentially growning database of ideas, knowledge and more. Yet, it can be so overwhelming to find, bookmark and manage this information so that it is useful to you.

I plan to post a short series of blog entries illustrating how I am creating my own "PLN" and the value that it gives to me. In this first post in the series, I'd like to introduce you to Plurk.

Plurk, and other similar networks such as Twitter, enable you to find others of like or differing ideas and interests and "follow" them. People post short snippets of ideas, questions, projects they are working on, links to resources and more.

Take a look at Plurk through my Plurk network.

Lori's Plurk Network

So, what value does my Plurk network give to me?
In the last 2 months, people in my Plurk network have made the following possible for me:

• I've gotten countless links to resources that will be very useful in my work. I think I've added more than 50 terrific links to my Delicious account from my Plurk network.
  
• I was stumped by a problem I was having with Moodle, the software I use for my online courses. I had asked several people I know and see regularly and no one could help me. Instead, someone I have never met, in Michigan, and a member of my Plurk network, helped me to solve the problem.
  
• I was made aware of a wonderful project, Pinwheels for Peace. I was able to involve students and teachers in this project to celebrate International Day of Peace. We were able to add our photos to those of others around the US who also participated as one of my Plurk colleagues made a collaborative VoiceThread.
  
• I've participated in thought provoking discussions that help me to grow professionally
  
• I've participated in purely "just for fun" real time discussions with people all over the United States as we simultaneously watch our favorite television program.
  
• I've gotten, and have shared, feedback almost instantly about software, hardware and other resources.

And these are but a few of the things that being a part of this PLN have brought to me.

National Educational Computing Conference

On Saturday I'll be on my way to Atlanta, GA to attend the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), sponsored by the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE). This is the 4th year that I've attended this annual conference and it is always a rich experience. It is one of the main sources of personal professional development for me and offers me a chance to learn from and collaborate with experts and novices from all over the world.

I will be posting information from the sessions I attend here on my blog. Along with some of my colleagues from BOCES I will be producing podcasts about our experiences as well (In the NECC of Time 2007). I will also be a volunteer conference correspondent for eSchool News Online. So, there will be many opportunities for me to share with all of you about what I'm learning.

Check back here for posts and links. I'll try hard to keep things updated in a timely fashion.