Comments on: Open Thread: Questioning Global Collaboration: Does Flat Fall Flat for Teens?

By: Education - Change.org: Webinar: More 21st C. "Learning 2.0" with Classroom Wikis

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:48:17 +0000

[...] The first three projects listed above were “local” collaborations, the fourth one global. I discuss my thoughts on the relative merits of local v. global approaches in the webinar. (I posted about those reflections most fully here.) [...]

By: My Wikispaces in Education Webinar Presentation Video is Up | Beyond School

My Wikispaces in Education Webinar Presentation Video is Up | Beyond School — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:38:45 +0000

[...] The first three projects listed above were “local” collaborations, the fourth one global. I discuss in the webinar my thoughts on the relative merits of both approaches in the webinar. (I posted about those reflections most fully here.) [...]

By: Dean Groom

Dean Groom — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:30:07 +0000

The world is about as big as your next click as far as students are concerned. I am not even sure they are able to conceptualize ‘connected over distance’. They are connected at the hip to their friends through technology, and everything else appears ‘distance-less’. Collaboration is massively limited by time-zone, so real time (in Australia) is really hard to deliver as a ‘norm expectation’ in classroom learning. The AT&T ad that promotes that ideal, is significantly floored in that regard. Collaboration is a skill, driven by need and should start in your classroom and ripple out … if the ripple is strong enough to reach other shores. The teachers desire to ‘go global’ is admirable. But you have to prove to kids that its worth the effort. I think they they see the enthusiasm we often have to ‘go global’ as rather amusing. Perhaps they are more amused at the outburst of passion than they are by the project delivery.

Local issues can link to wider ones – but meta-cognition goes a long way in propelling the ripple I think.

By: Writing and Revision - to Re-see « Living on the Lip of Insanity

Writing and Revision - to Re-see « Living on the Lip of Insanity — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:29:59 +0000

[...] 13, 2008 by Kate Tabor Thanks to Clay Burrell for asking me to consider finishing this [...]

By: Latest Diigo Bookmarks (weekly)

Latest Diigo Bookmarks (weekly) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:36:55 +0000

[...] Does Flat Fall Flat for Teens? Re-thinking Global Collaborative Learning Projects | Beyond School [...]

By: George

George — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:10:01 +0000

Sorry for being late! I am slowly going through this but, here is the response I posted on danah’s blog post. [you have my email if you're still interested]

I don’t think that teens lack the psychocosial foundations of connecting with the world. For the past 4 years, we have held global projects connecting 3 million students from across the world with each other and with experts investigating environmental change and life in the Arctic regions of the world. Their experiences caused change rarely seen in the regular old classroom. In other words, they initiated action within their own community, holding fundraisers, carving dogsleds (the projects have to do with dogsleding across the arctic), and striving to teach others (adults and teens alike) that local actions have global implications… My perspective is that teens are ready. We just need to figure out the best way to get them excited about such projects. If you just tell them “hey look, here’s a kid in Greece, talk to her” I don’t think you’ll be seeing much “change.”

By: Estie Cuellar

Estie Cuellar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:05:47 +0000

I’d like to weigh in on this topic from a different perspective. I left “Corporate America” several years back to teach Career and Technology Education classes to high school youth. I made this leap because I was tired of improving a corporate bottom line–I wanted to do ’something’ to improve the lives of young people in what is an increasingly competitive job market (not to mention getting into college!).

With that said…my perspective is shaped, honed, skewed (possibly) from a business perspective. While I admit that I am a newbie with regard to wikis and global collaboration in my classroom, I am a seasoned veteran with regard to building and sustaining a competitive advantage in the workplace.

In my estimation, our students need all types of collaboration–building, local, national, and global. And, as others have already stated we can’t collaborate just for collaboration’s sake. Young adults (all of us, actually) are always asking, “So what?” As educators it’s our responsibility to answer all of the ’so what’ questions before they are asked…we have to let the students know up front ‘what’s in it for them.’ If the content isn’t relevant, if they can’t make the connection(s) on how they can apply (in the ‘real world’) what they are to learn, then what’s the point?

I consider it my ‘duty’ if you will to prepare my students for the inordinate amount of (and sometimes downright nasty) competition they will face as they enter the marketplace. In addition, I am driven to teach my students how to build and sustain a competitive advantage in both college and career. By participating in meaningful collaboration projects (be they global or otherwise), students are exposed to another valuable learning tool that will help them build that advantage.

Estie Cuellars last blog post..Thing #20 YouTube and TeacherTube (part 2)