Collaboration





= Collaboration  =

How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts?
 * Technology continues to be a driving force for communication and learning in the 21st century. To promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts, students will utilize a variety of technological resources and online collaboration tools to foster communication and sharing of knowledge and ideas. The unit, Persuasive Texts – Take a Stand, focuses on a problem that students are able to personally connect with considering its potential implications on the local community. Convincing other members of the community of the importance of a recycling program would be a great reward for completing this project.

As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?
 * Driscoll (2005) suggests that problem-based learning (PBL) allows learners to utilize a variety of resources to help students arrive at possible solutions. A teacher-directed, hands-on science activity will be utilized to introduce the importance of the issue at hand – recycling. Students will be provided with student examples and step-by-step explanations of the various components and teacher expectations of the project. Upon introducing and explaining the assignment, students will work together to arrive at a solution for encouraging others to support the creation of a recycling program in the local community. The teacher will serve as a facilitator and will only intervene in group interactions on an as-needed basis. This will encourage student creativity and problem-solving as students are able to exercise their independence and critical thinking capabilities through collaboration and discussion of content. Although resources, specific websites, and other materials will be provided, students will be encouraged to incorporate their own ideas and resources to create ownership of ideas and solutions.

What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?
 * To assign learners to collaborative groups, individual student’s Lexile scores will be obtained and assessed by the teacher. Students will be placed in heterogeneous groups of three or four, depending on the number of students in a particular class. Students will be placed in groups as a means of co-constructing a solution to the problem utilizing joint decision making about the activities to be coordinated in reaching the solution. Driscoll (2005) suggests that instructors provide guidance required for learners to bridge the gap between their current ability and a desired ability. By placing students in heterogeneous groups, students will have a greater chance of becoming more proficient in completing the task(s) at hand.

Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?
 * Technology skills are significant to success in almost every area. Those who are not more facile with technology will advance while those without skills or access will not (New Media Consortium, 2012). Students participating in this unit will be expected to use a variety of technology components to increase engagement, improve technology skills, and promote positive collaboration among team members. Students will have the option to use Microsoft PowerPoint, edu.glogster.com, and [|www.prezi.com] to create the various products required in each lesson.
 * Collaboration will also be fostered through the use of group wikis. Each group will be required to work together to complete each assignment. To ensure students are collaborating and sharing ideas, individuals will be required to answer questions, offer suggestions, and discuss topics utilizing the tools of the wiki. Since all students are not afforded computer access from home, this project will be completed at school. Collaboration may take place via personal resources (social networking, text messaging, email, etc.); however, students will be expected to include all members of the collaborative group in decision making.

How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups?
 * To assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups, the teacher will incorporate rubrics as the primary assessment tool. Utilizing the tools of the group wiki, the teacher will be able to track the collaboration and input of individual group members in order to assign individual grades. Individual group members will also be able to complete an evaluation of other group members. Although this will be a required task by individuals, a grade will not be awarded based on the results, simply on the completion by individuals. The comments obtained from the peer evaluations will be provided to the students as a means of encouraging students to self-assess their input/work/support in the completion of the task to the views of others in the group. Additional grades will be obtained from the actual products created by the groups. These assessment tools will reflect the actual content standards (Persuasive Writing).

References:

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

New Media Consortium, Horizon Project. (2012). NMC Horizon Project short list: 2012 k-12 edition. Retrieved from <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|http] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|://] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|k] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|12.] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|wiki] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|.] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|nmc] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|.] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|org] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|/] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|file] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|/] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|view] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|/2012-] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|Horizon] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|.] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|K] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|12-] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|Shortlist] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|.] <span style="color: #000000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[|pdf]