Elements of Distance Education Diffusion

EDUC 8842 – Principles of Distance Education
Module 2 Blog Post – Collaborative Interaction

            According to Siemens (2008), the growing acceptance of distance education at all levels of education includes three elements that are creating effective learning experiences and a distinct identity from face to face courses:  (1) global diversity, (2) communication, and (3) collaborative interaction.  This blog post will focus on the collaborative interaction element in K12 public education. 

           Collaborative interaction has evolved using Web 2.0 tools and with the increased focus of 21st century skills promoting collaboration among teachers, students and the global educational community. As many teachers have collaborated with each other within their same school for years, the need to broaden that network of resources is becoming more prevalent for teacher professional development and collaborative interactions for students. Two excellent blog resources in support of collaborative work are Teacher Tech Talk: The Value of Teacher Collaboration (Pike, 2011) and WhenTeaching Becomes an Interaction Design Task: Networking the Classroom with CollaborativeBlogs (Zer-Aviv, 2011).

            The ability to make connections and create innovative lessons in a more efficient manner increases collaborative interactions for both teachers and students. There are many online tools that are available to facilitate collaborative interactions among teachers and students including blogs, wikis, video-conferencing, social networking, bookmark sharing, mind mapping, podcasting, and other collaborative work spaces such as Google Docs and Microsoft’s SkyDrive. However, in order to use these collaborative tools effectively and efficiently following the guidelines established in the Facilitating Collaborative Learning: 20 Things You Need to Know From the Pros (Clifford, 2012), will assist with the collaborative interaction process.

References

Clifford, M. (2012, November 8). Facilitating Collaborative Learning: 20 Things You Need to Know From the Pros. Retrieved on December 26, 2012 from http://newsroom.opencolleges.edu.au/features/ facilitating-collaborative-learning-20-things-you-need-to-know-from-the-pros/#ixzz2GCdDCBZ1

 Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). The Future of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author, George Siemens.

Pike, L. (2011, April 15).  Teacher Tech Talk:  The Value of Teacher Collaboration.  Retrieved on December 26, 2012 from http://blogs.rockingham.k12.va.us/lpike/2011/04/the-value-of-teacher-collaboration/

Zer-Aviv, M. (2011, October 15). When Teaching Becomes an Interaction Design Task:    Networking the Classroom with Collaborative Blogs.  Retrieved on December 26, 2012 from http://mushon.com/blog/2011/10/15/when-teaching-becomes-an-interaction-design-task-networking-the-classroom-with-collaborative-blogs/