I’ve always used collaboration in my classroom and found that students either love to collaborate or hate it. Those who love it possess the skills to negotiate with other students and enjoy the opportunity to work with friends. Those who hate it may have more difficulty with their interpersonal skills, feel they get stuck doing all the work, or don’t feel they know how to contribute. And then, there is the challenge of the student who depend on their classmates to get the work done who do not benefit at all from the experience.
By bringing technology to collaboration experiences I am better able to manage the challenges of collaboration, and students are more likely to realize the benefits. By being able to “see” what all students are doing at all times I am able to coach students as they work. It is easy to tell the strengths and challenges that each student has and to give immediate feedback.
In the last school year, I had my students collaborate and work in virtual literature circles. It worked much the way a typical literature circle works, with each student initiating a conversation on a particular predetermined topic. The main difference was that their comments and work was done on a Google website. Students made their comments and responded to each other as homework. By the time they came in the next day, I had given feedback and they were able to view that and make adjustments. It really helped them to elevate their communication skills and to truly have a conversation about the books. If they had difficulty, I could quickly help them by giving suggestions or asking questions. If I had done this in a classroom setting I would only be able to work with one group at a time, and it would take 2-3 days to get to work with all groups.
In addition the groups were really able to dive deeper into their novels. Some students linked YouTube videos, websites about the time period their novel took place, author websites, and much more. They were limited only by their imagination. Overall this was a fantastic experience for both the students and for myself. I found that I needed to do a significant amount of work to set up the project and had make some shifts in my role from teacher to mentor and advisor.