Topic 3 - Learning in communities – networked & collaborative learning
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| Image by johnhain is licensed under CC0 1.0 |
The topic for these 2 weeks is collaboration and I thought
it could be a good idea to start this blog post with a short reflection about
our own collaboration in our PBL13-group.
I think that our collaboration works very good and I think
it has improved since the first topic. Even though we are a large group, where
some are more active than others, I experience that everyone contributes to the
work in their own way. Some of us can´t attend every online meeting, which is
fine, but we all still contribute, when we discuss online or work in the
FISh-document. When collaborating online, I think the synchronous and
asynchronous work are equally important!
When thinking and reflecting about online collaboration, I
don´t think it differs that much from collaborating in real life. I think that
collaboration works in the same way, collaborating online or if you meet in
person. You can have your meetings, work with a project together synchronously
and asynchronously, have discussions, comment on each other’s contributions and
so on. I think that with all the digital tools you can use today, an online collaboration
can work as smoothly as a collaboration in real life can do.
Capdeferro and Romer (2012) did a study where they tried to
identify the sources to frustration when collaborating online. They identified
imbalance in commitment, unshared goals, communication etc. Imbalance in
commitment and effort are connected to how active you are in the group. I think
it´s much easier to be absent when working online, than in real life. If you’re
taking a course and working on a project together, it is easy to just stop
responding to emails, posts, being inactive in forums and not contribute at
all. It is easier to come up with excuses because no one can control them. It
is much easier to just disappear in cyberspace...
During our online meetings, I have experienced another
source to frustration, which I could add to the list. Wi-Fi connection! My
connection turned out to be not so good and are causing disturbing troubles for
me during our online meetings. Sometimes my screen freeze, I can´t hear the
others and I miss important information!
Capdeferro, N. and Romero, M. (2012) Are Online Learners
Frustrated with Collaborative Learning Experiences? The International Review in
Open and Distributed Learning, 13:2
Elisabeth, we share the same opinion - collaboration in PBL13 has very much improved! We are becoming more open and more eager to discuss - I guess it is because that we know each other better and the bonds are forming between us :)
ReplyDeleteYou are right, collaboration is very much improved and everybody gets involved in the way they can. Also I agree that it is much easier to disappear when you work online. But somehow later when the bonds of the group becomes stronger you feel that you can't just disappear, we came gere together so we have to do it together supporting each other :)
ReplyDeleteI think we need to improve on asynchronous collaboration in all courses and activities. We often focus too much on synchronous meetings (both on-site and online) and we often have too many of them. If done well I think asynchronous work is much more effective than synchronous but most people don't know how to do it.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about wifi. It is great for many things but synchronous video meetings are a problem when the bandwidth changes several times a minute.