Community Building and Communicating with Technologies in the Classroom

During the last few classes, we have collaborated in small groups using Webspiration and Google Spreadsheets. While I have figured out the logistics of concept mapping, I am having a more difficult time navigating the spreadsheet software. Fortunately, working in groups means that we all bring different strengths and areas needing improvement to the table, so I am hoping that this week in class, a classmate with more expertise in Spreadsheets can teach me how to better manipulate data. While there are benefits to grappling with issues independently, I definitely learn quicker when someone shows me how to do something and then allows me the freedom to attempt and explore. My own struggle illustrates the necessity for students to learn how to collaborate and work cooperatively with others, a point that Jonassen makes in his book, especially in his chapters on community building and communication. It's nothing novel or secretive that students learn from one another when they work together, and the case is no different when thinking about technology integration in the classroom. The days of working alone are no longer useful or relevant in a society that is being increasingly linked and globalized through technologies. Whether through blogs, wikis, messaging or forums, information is being shared and co-created by adults and children with internet access.

Throughout the readings for this week, I was most interested in how wikis and blogging can provide students with a space to demonstrate their understanding and respond to the ideas of others via virtual collaboration. For instance, I love the idea of students learning another language communicating with native speakers on the web. I imagine how much quicker and more easily I could have picked up Italian, had I been able to converse with Italian students rather than spending years memorizing vocabulary and grammatical rules from textbooks! Jonassen also writes about the benefits of podcasting as a means of communication. This year, my second graders are learning how to create a podcast on Garageband. We are planning to have them record a podcast of an original poem they will publish at the end of our poetry unit. Podcasts can be a great tool to reduce the laborious process of writing that some children struggle with, as well as a useful way to share and communicate.