Blog #8 Initial Post
What are your thoughts about “learning in the collective”?
By taking online courses at the graduate level since 2004, I have been “learning in the collective” for quite a while. Because of this, I, of course, have an opinion about learning in the collective. I agree with Thomas and Brown (2011) with the idea that learning in the collective is not a new concept. I also believe, along with Thomas and Brown (2011), that if students take an active role in creating and molding learning, the information shared is more up-to-date alleviating the need for the teacher to keep current in all things. But, learning in the collective can be a tough method for a teacher to use. I have seen it used in discussion boards when all students are expected to share their learning. I have also seen it used poorly in that students who think they have all the answers criticize other’s perspectives and thoughts, thus shutting down conversation and ostracizing students. I am not sure how to best approach the collective learning of students since so often either students won’t disagree with others because of not wanting to hurt feelings or confront issues, or students will use the learning medium as a way to push their philosophies on others. It seems that Thomas and Brown’s thoughts would work in a utopian environment, but I have yet to see collective learning work very well. Sorry, I hate to “rain on parades”, but although I would love to see collective learning take place, I don’t have many examples when it did.
So, what are my solutions to making “collective learning” work? I can’t be negative without offering solutions. In 2007, Pfizer offered access to their knowledge networks so that doctors and the healthcare industry could work together to improve patient care. By working together on a similar goal, folks with expertise in various areas were able to collaborate and build knowledge that would be impossible otherwise (LittlebyLittlejohn). This method is very similar to the collaborative learning we have been using in this class. I think that when we worked together to create our rubrics, we, as students, were very helpful and encouraging to one another and used our skills in various areas to make a rubric where the sum total was greater than the individual parts. I think it worked great in this instance.
Don’t get me wrong...I love the idea of collective learning. As Garavan and Carbery (2014) have said, “Learning emerges because of interactive mechanisms where individual knowledge is shared, disseminated, diffused, and further developed through relational and belonging synergies. I don’t believe there is a better way of learning. Although “synergy” seems to be a somewhat new “catchphrase”, I do believe when we can gain a sum total greater than the parts, we are learning far more than we might otherwise.
So, although I may appear to be rambling (or maybe I really am rambling), I think collective learning is a great idea and when used correctly can be an excellent method for students to learn. The downside, from my perspective, is that it is a very difficult method to use and a challenging skill for students to develop. Because it is so difficult to implement correctly, it is often misused by both educators and students and can cause more problems among students than good.
Garavan, T., Carbery, R. (2014). SpringerReferecne. Retrieved from http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/319564.html
Thomas, D., Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform