Let’s be honest, no one likes group assignments. Could you imagine my face when I learned that our next interactivity would not only be online, but an online, group assignment? I thought the task would go down in flames, but I am presently surprised to see that I was wrong. While collaboration took time, it was interesting to see the mix between online work and meeting in person. I can be thankful that science students are used to working together on a regular basis. This made group collaboration much easier. After individual research was completed, we convened to share our work and form the list of technology. The layout of our spreadsheet was reached through an open discussion think tank. In regards to the list itself, I have to say I’m proud of it. I think nearly all of our examples of technology are very strong. Due to the huge content held under the heading of “science” it was easy to find examples of technology that do not overlap with each other to a significant extent. Utilizing such technologies could be very helpful in the future when we are teaching. Any technology which can facilitate learning should be strongly considered when preparing the classroom. This list can be used in both Curr316 and Read411 as springboards for both lesson plans and paper ideas. By having an available list of tools at hand it should be much easier to make fun, and interesting, lesson plans. Hopefully, knowledge such as this will make us better teachers in the future.
I as well can admit that I was a bit nervous about having to create this project as a group. I was not familiar with most of my group members,nonetheless I was willing & determined to work with them. During the entire process I primarily kept in contact with only one of the members who took the initiative of communicating with others in the group. Once I had obtained my 10 technologies, I created a spreadsheet (which I had committed myself to do) & I sent it to group member I would communicate with. She then added her contribution & shared it with the rest of the group for them to include their findings as well. It was slightly inconvenient having to wait for all the members to render a final product. However, this activity served as a perfect example as to how technology enables individuals to collaborate with each other to collectively accomplish shared goals, even when they do not have the time to physically meet as a group. All the work & communication in my part toward our project was conducted via email & blog.
ReplyDeleteI also questioned the whole online group project assignment when I first heard about it. I thought about how it could be more difficult being online, and how group projects aren't always the most reliable all the time. But, I also considered the fact that I was in a group with people I know and we are all music majors, so that definitely helped compared to not knowing anyone in my group.
ReplyDeleteAlex, what do you think was the key that made the collaboration piece a success?
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that we all are rather accomplished in our subject area, as well as knowledgeable in regards to technology was the key to success. We each had a large reservoir to pull from when it came to idea.s
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