The Myth of Technology and Collaboration…

Technology and collaboration are two things I emphasize within my classroom.  As a student teacher, I have repeatedly been informed that technological and collaboratively rich environments are necessary to achieve high levels of learning.  This is a lie.   Alright, I won’t be that blunt.  It is not a lie, but it certainly is a half-truth. You can’t just throw a web-quest at everyone or add another worksheet and say, “Ready, set, collaborate.”  But this is the message that comes in the University classrooms filled with teacher’s ready to experiment the latest and greatest tech fads on students.

As I find out my balance of technological integration and collaboration I want to avoid this myth.  Successful collaboration means, “Making decisions, sharing information, peer teaching, and making compromises on differing perspectives” (Skio, 2016).  Too often I have a great idea for a graphic organizer and I have the groups work in “teams” thinking I’ve just set them up to collaborate.  The truth is I have just allowed for a divide and conquer in which they will all split up the sections and then share the answers.  Don’t get me wrong.  Collaboration is not a bad thing, it’s great.  But often I mislabel collaboration.

A study by Deanna Kuhn looked at the effects of thinking together and independently on Project Based Learning (PBL).  One of my favorite types of instruction is PBL. Many have argued that collaboration within PBL has resulted in higher levels of assessment as compared to other instructional strategies.  Kuhn concluded it was not collaboration rather the engaging problem that derived the higher scores.  I must admit this is very disappointing.  

These articles has helped me realize it’s not enough to group individuals together and call it collaboration.  Students must learn the skills of intellectual collaboration.  These skills are developed over time through practice, trial and error, and having effective collaboration modeled. 

Let me clarify a few things before you think I am completely bashing collaboration.  I love collaboration.  I just don’t do it well.  I also think tests don’t accurately measure collaboration and social skills that are gained from this type of interaction.  It’s very difficult to capture the critical thinking skills and development of collaboration on a test. 

Moving along to technology, I tend to agree with this article written by Mate Weirdl that great teacher’s matter more than technology but that does not mean technology is all bad.  While calculating equations and solving problems develops essential critical thinking skills I wonder if the material is transferable to real life.  In Pre-Calc (the highest level I ever got in Math L) we regularly had problems out of a book that I learned to complete but could not apply this to anything outside of the book.  Using computers to do project driven real experiments and problem solving can help to showcase how you use the material and make it more meaningful to students. 

Education News written by Jace Harr mentions an LA Times column focuses on Moderation by Joy Resmovits.  Joy argues students should use computers for only certain activities that really benefit learning.  Joy is right.  There are times when we use computers to practice route memorization and drills and come away with lower test scores than had a teacher been able to teach the student about problem solving themselves. But, I don’t think the issue is the computer.  The issue is completing drills on a computer.  Just like doing repetitive timed math tests in Middle School where students don’t learn how to multiple rather they practice route memorization of multiplication tables.  A computer is no different if you are using a computer to practice route memory, the results will be abysmal.  Instead, computers should be used for the same high level teaching practices that excellent educators use which focuses on higher level thinking. 

I have much more to learn on how to integrate technology and collaboration in the classroom.  But one thing is certain just because I call it collaboration or utilize technology for all my instruction does not mean I am practicing good teaching and it does not mean students are flourishing. I utilize student self-evaluation on assignments including collaborative projects.  Too often the students are the only ones doing the self-evaluation when I need to practice it myself.  As educators we dream of these amazing assignments, but there are times these ideal assignments fail.  We need to have the guts to self-evaluate and admit our failed attempts.