alastair wells

• A concept for learning communities – Collaborative/Collective learning using ICT
  
  New? No but the idea of developing a collaborative link in a learning environment is. With our view of learning theories starting to change the way students are working in schools, we need to change the way valuable interaction can take place throughout the school, local and wider community. Students from all levels are tending to learn from a variety of people including their peers, teachers, local businesses, the Internet, library services, Universities, polytechnics, parents, family/whanau and many other sources of information associated to their particular interest or projects. This process is quite normal for student centred learning situations and in the past has been severely hindered by the lack of access to valuable information that is available in the world around us. One of the most useful resources is the people who surround us in our everyday endeavours and within a school there is a wealth of personal knowledge available if that knowledge can be accessed through a system that will allow for the sharing of ideas, information, and knowledge. In the past there hasn’t been a way of combining this collective talent and also requires the development of a culture of collaborative learning within any one institution. Commercial practice have developed a variety of systems of sharing peoples knowledges and skills. Some of these include:
  • E mail connectivity
  • Group meetings
  • Close circuit TV
  • Web site material suitable for sharing information
  • Bulletins
  • Talking books
  • CD Rom material
  • In-house newsletters
  • Group gatherings – e.g. after work functions
  
  All of these methods enable people to share ideas, information and knowledge which is invaluable for progressing/reinforcing other peoples thoughts and understanding. And help the collaborative learning process.
  
  Students benefit from collaborative collective knowledge sharing situations as commercial institutions do. This is a major component of students learning anyway. The way in which another student can describe something or provide relevant information regarding curriculum concepts is quite often far more beneficial than a teachers description. Students value the opportunity to be of some worth and will be eager to participate in such a system.
  
  How could a system like this work?
  
  The use of ICT tools will allow easy connectivity for students and can support students in their quest to find relevant information. Screens/displays available in all rooms can be engage students in sharing and consequently being exposed to situations which improve their knowledge. The more expertise we can expose our students to, the more opportunity they have to learn. Material can be shared between learning centers through screens logged into a central processing system and contain some question and answer information that relates to a variety of learning situations happening in the school at any one time. These displays can share the interaction between outside links and help to galvanize whole school learning. Maybe students don’t have to be at school to be involved in a learning situation?
  
  Maybe students don’t have to be at school to participate in learning?
  
  Interesting concept? Want to contribute to this debate?