Learning and collaborating online – My 12 week journey
Learning and collaborating online in an academic environment has been a multifaceted experience. Throughout a 12 week period I’ve been shown the tools to successfully explore the digital world. I’ve gained knowledge and experience in areas such as validating information and websites, working and collaborating online and advancements in technology, these being only a few to name. Learning and collaborating online has been a huge learning curve which has helped me gain a more in depth understanding of how I prefer to work online as well as within a team environment effectively shaping and changing the way I contribute to team projects.
There is a plethora of ubiquitous information online of which the user needs to judge if the information provided is credible and legitimate. In Markham Nolan’s YouTube video (Markham Nolan: How to separate fact and fiction online, 2012, http://v.gd/iT0MrR). Markham speaks of the availability of information available via social media networks and websites, explaining “how to separate fact from fiction online”. Markham gives insight to the investigation process of how to verify incoming information which can easily be achieved using free internet tools such as Google Maps and Twitter. An example of this is how Markham and his team had to validate a YouTube video, so their client could run the material in the weather news. In this particular instance they had completed a search using the sources YouTube user name and inputting this to www.spokeo.com from here they used www.wolframalpha.com to confirm the weather reports for the day the video was uploaded. This further progressed to the white pages www.whitepages.com to search addresses ...
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...Steve Johnson and Ian Goldin’s readings, helped expand my lateral thinking, changing my perspective of technology and how we collaborate which has contributed positively to how I interact within my work environment. It honed in on skills such as negotiation, compromise and patience. This has led to a deeper understanding of what it takes to work as a team and what it means to collaborate. As previously mentioned there may be several issues or discrepancies as to why collaborating online may be difficult however at the end of the project you have a better understanding of how to work with other members and a better understanding of yourself and how you work within a team. Collaborating online helps you do your job, save time and increases visibility over projects ensuring you get your message to the right audience. Collaboration online is the way of the future.
By working together there is information sharing, improve safety and quality also collaboration gives knowledge to other professionals. (Littlechild and Smith, 2013).what I have learned through working in partnership with other professionals was creating a poster related to what each professional does. Some of the professionals I did not know how exactly they work together in partnership. Example: I was not aware of how a radiology would work with a social work and the outcome of that was that Radiology develop and maintain collaborative relationship with medical colleagues and participates in regular meetings with other professionals activities to meet the needs of a service users therefore they collaborate with Social Workers. By doing a poster and delivering information I learned a lot from the other team members, shared experiences knowledge and skills with other group members. Group work made me realise how it is very important to work in multi-displinary team, the benefit of it and what others can benefit from. During the poster each of the student was from different professional however we all had the question but each had to look at it in each profession perspectives. This gave an opportunity to everyone to go and search for each professional and communicate with the rest of the group the outcome of the presentation. By doing that, we exchanged ideas learned from each other’s skills and used it into practice. I have learned about sharing information with others, learned about communication and
The first thing I noticed about the subject of collaboration is that it is huge—there are as many styles, types, methods, rationales, theories, benefits and drawbacks as there are theorists and scholars. Additionally, almost no one appears to agree on even such simple matters as terminology (Is it collaborative writing or collaborative learning? Is it peer response, review, or editing?), let alone on actual application and practice. As Kenneth Bruffee states in “Collaborative Learning and the ‘Conversation of Mankind,’” an essay many supporters and detractors of collaborative writing hearken back to time and time again, his essay “offers no recipes” because there are no recipes for effectively adding collaborative writing to an English classroom (394). There are merely guidelines for successful collaboration and rationales supporting or denying the usefulness of incorporating collaborative writing. Kenneth Topping, director for the Centre for Paired Learning at Dundee University, supporting the notion that collaboration is without rules or recipe, writes, “Collaborative writing is not a single homogeneous procedure” (1).
Collaboration is working together in order to get something done, or accomplish a task. When collaboration is taking place, people should be working as one or as a team.
Metzger, M. J. (2010). Making sense of credibility on the web: Models for evaluating online information and recommendations for future research. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(13), 2078-2091. doi:10.1002/asi.20672
Collaboration begins with networking, coordination, and cooperation and then requires team members to share decisions, responsibility, and trust. It requires that team members invest time and energy to come up with options and design strategies for carrying out these plans. Because collaboration requires lots of time and energy, it is impossible to make all decisions collaboratively. In some instances, the desired result can be achieved through networking, coordination, or cooperation. Working together, or collaboratively, invites participation of multiple service providers and the use of multiple resources. See the Student Stories below for examples of collaboration in action.
I can liken my presence on the web to a double-edged sword because of the associated advantages and disadvantages. In a positive sense, it has allowed me to establish a professional presence that I use to showcase my work to my peers, professors, and potential employers. In a negative sense, it has changed the way I communicate with friends and family members, which has stifled some relationships by making them less personal than they would be without the “aid” of the web.
You can request feedback and opinions on your projects. You celebrate your victories together. It keeps you motivated. It gives you the foundation for team building. You can start your online community with confidence and experience. Long term friendships can be the result. You will not lose your autonomy. You set your own goals, and the sessions are flexible to fit each person’s need. You design your program and work towards your results.
Students use digital media and Students use digital media and virtual learning environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others
Caruso, C. (2008). Bringing Online Learning to Life. Educational Leadership, 65(8) 70. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
“Human beings have always functioned in face-to-face groups. While the use of teams is on the rise the Wall Street Journal reports that two-thirds of American companies employ them – the face to face aspect of normal working relationships is changing. Electronic communication and digital technologies give people a historically unprecedented ability to work together at a distance.” (Lipnack, J., & Stamps, J., 1997).
Now that we are living in an ever changing world, technology is viewed as the most resourceful tool in keeping up with the pace. Without the use of technology, communication would be limited to using mail for delivery and encyclopedias for research. Although technology has improved the way we communicate and find information for research, the information is not always valid. Unfortunately, for those of us who use the internet for shopping, research, or reading articles of personal interest the information is not treated the same as a your magazine or book. While such literature is reviewed by an editorial staff, internet literature or information can be published by anyone. In order to reap the full benefit of having the use of technology for any purpose, there are five basic criteria’s one must keep in mind as an evaluating tool for deciding whether or not the particular website is a reliable source for information.
Liu, L. (2010, May 14). Achieving Major Benefits from Collaboration with a Collaboration Framework. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://collaborationzen.com/2010/05/14/achieving-major-benefits-from-collaboration-with-a-collaboration-framework/
Social media is a quick and easy way to spread news and information across the world. However, the common saying, “you can’t believe everything you see on the internet,” is true. Social media allows the spread of unreliable and false information. A study done by the American Press Institute found, “64% of people who use Twitter for news say that they have encountered something they "later discovered wasn't true," and 16% of Twitter news users say that "they had retweeted or posted a tweet they later discovered to be false” (API). This can have various effects as people are falsely educated which can lead to some bad or unnecessary decisions.
Digital learning is defined as learning through digital devices such as computers, tablets, or smart phones over the Internet. It is also known by other names, such as virtual learning, online learning, e-learning, distance learning, or continuing education. Digital learning was first introduced as “Computer Assisted Learning Center” in 1982 [1]. The first online course was introduced by “Computer Assisted Learning Campus” in 1994, in which students can take courses over the web [1]. Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky founded Blackboard in 1997. In 1999, Blackboard, SmartThinking and e-campus became popular among different universities around the world. Between 2002 and 2008, there was an increase in students taking online courses by 187% [2]. In the year 2009, total number of students who were taking web-based curriculum was 5.5 million [2]. This statistic shows that the online learning trend is on the rise each day.
Online learning, also known as distance learning or online learning, has become a new and successful means of receiving an education in a highly technologically enhanced environment (Regan, Evmenova, Baker, Jerome, Spencer, Lawson, & Werner, 2012). Kaymak and Horzum (2013) defined online learning as using Internet technology to gain knowledge and skills through the use of synchronous and asynchronous learning tools. Allen and Seaman (2013) stated that about 6.7 million students attending colleges and universities across the United States were successfully enrolled in at least one online course in 2011. There is an increased interest in online learning that continues to grow as a result of the amplified demands from the work place and the escalating availability of nontraditional educational options and providers (Allen & Seaman, 2008).