I have decided to write my final paper on the topic of collaboration and the difference between the type of voluntary collaboration that takes place outside the classroom as in the use of wikis versus school based collaborative projects. No one tells individuals to participate in wikipedia revisions; they are voluntary. Conversely, in-school projects are handled differently by teachers and thought of differently by students. In my middle school classroom, if I assign a group project, collaboration is often mandatory. When given the option, some students will choose to work independently. Even in our MEDI503 class, only a few people chose to work together on their final paper.
I would like to explore how to bring the type of voluntary collaboration one sees outside the classroom into the classroom. What needs to be changed about the nature of the assignment or the parameters set around the assignment to make students voluntarily want to collaborate?
I do think this is an interesting topic. I would think you will have to deal with ideas about ownership of final product, and indeed, the very of a final product. Does it make a difference to collaborate in something that is ongoing as opposed to something that has a fixed end (due) date?
ReplyDelete- Erik Jacobson
I wonder whether rubrics need to be changed to accommodate the different parts of the collaboration as well as the content part of te project. Is it fair for all students to receive the same grade if they did not all contribute the sam amount? We see this discussion in the classroom as well as in real life. I know it is important for students to gain the experience of working together, but sometimes it deters them from the focus of the task which is to deepend their understanding of the topic.
ReplyDelete-Christine
I think this is indeed a big issue. There are alwas some students who see group work as a time to coast. Others are honestly lost, and thus cannot contribute much to the group's efforts. However, it is hard to police this kind of thing. It is usually harder to ask the students to do it themselves when grades are involved. I'm not sure anybody has come up with a great solution to this yet.
ReplyDelete- Erik Jacobson
Thank you for your comments. They definitely bring up interesting points to think and talk about.
ReplyDeleteIt might be interesting to note the difference between working independantly and working in isolation. Blogs, discussion boards, instant messaging, and asynchronous communication all have a group dynamic and a group-work sensibility. Grading those components, like grading peer review, is tricky and I think that any assessment needs to reflect overall standards set for a course. When students do not receive adequite peer feedback or input from a group member, they are at a disadvantage and some of reults are not tangible.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic! Some children find it easier to work in groups because they can learn from one another, gain feedback together, and they learn how to work together. Unfortunately, not everyone in the group does the same amount of work, some still have no clue what they are doing, and others do not care. Everyone then is graded the same and of course it isn't fair for the one that does the most work.
ReplyDelete- An idea: what if group projects were "in school assignments" that way you are able to walk around, see and hear how the groups work together?
I am very interested to hear the information you gathered!
-Tania