Blog 3

Week 5, Blog 3

Chapter 6.
Question: What are the four perspectives that contribute to the success of online collaborative learning? Give a summary of each perspective.
Answer: The four perspectives are: team task, team development, peer relationship and communication media
Discussion:
Team task: The chapter by Zhang & Ge states that “team task is the core in the dynamics of the collaborative learning process” page 100. Team task are behaviors that facilitate learning. Examples of tasks are: discussion, problem solving and decision making (page 101). Group work takes place when members come together to problem solve or complete a task. The members of the group are required to interact with one another, develop trust, develop a working relationship and generate ideas that can lead to problem solving. The nature of the group work is that communication is necessary by all members. The members must be willing to “give” and “take” for the sake of the problem or goal to be solved.

The complexity of the task at hand can determine the success of the group work. The goal is to facilitate growth and learning by adding a balance of guidance and task resolution. Page 103 describes a variety of tasks that can be utilized. Some of the tasks are: asking questions negotiate meanings, clarification and would also include problem solving tasks. The members of the team must come to some understanding as to what the goal of the group is and then work with each other to come to a workable conclusion.

Team development. The text discussed Tuckman’s theory of group development. The first stage of development is that of forming. Forming is when members come together but are not sure what their roles are. They may not know each other so interactive dynamics are necessary for trust to develop. Communication allows each member to become oriented with other members. Storming is the stage in which move to a deeper level of communication. They share feelings and thoughts. The members may vie for leadership and conflict can occur. Roles, rules and relationships are established here.
Norming is the third stage in Tuckman’s theory. Shared understanding and the establishment of norms is the goal of this stage. Cooperation and cohesiveness are characteristic of this stage. The fourth stage is that of performing. Performing occurs when the team collaborates, communicates and produces the task at hand. The members are more trustful and function as a whole to be successful.

Peer relationship. Relationships are necessary with group members to complete the task of the group work. During the growth of relationships, members may compete with one another for the role of leader. Members may either disagree with the direction of the group task or agree. Some verbalize their convictions to the group while others may withhold their thoughts. The text discussed emotional (affective) conflicts as personal and defensive (page 107) and cognitive conflicts as being productive for team development. Peer relationship is the vehicle in which group or team work is completed.

Communication media. The lack of face to face communication can be a challenge in establishing group work. Team members must become comfortable with the utilization of media to communicate with each other. The educator must be aware of the need for a variety of media experiences to facilitate the group dynamics.

Chapter 10.
1. Discuss openness, robustness and decentralization as related to the success of communities via the internet. (page 190).

Openness: E-learning communities are generally open and encourage all to contribute. The flow of material is the goal of openness. To remain open there are rules that govern behaviors in the community. Members are free to share material as long as the rules that are established are followed.

Decentralization: The delivery of information in virtual educational settings is decentralized as compared to centralized delivery.

Robustness: E-learning communities may be robust in several ways. The text, page 191 says that: they can lead to a robust understanding of a topic that does not fade the day after the exam has been sat, and are robust to changes in content since the most up-to-date content is shared by individuals rather than by one individual.

State and describe the key ingredients in the development of a learning community.
The authors describe the key ingredients in a triangle format. The first point of the triangle is people. The community is comprised of users. Users determine if the community succeeds or fails. The second element is process. The process refers to the support structures of the learning environment/community. Dialogue is required for communities to develop. Activities that enhance the development of dialogue and discussion of content are necessary. I view the process section as the “how” community develops. What tools would be used to initiate the working stage of the team. The third part of the triangle is that of technology. Technology should be easy to use, encourage dialogue (asynchronous). Tools that enhance communication are extremely helpful.