EDCI 5825 Week Three

Using Collaborative Projects in the Classroom

After exploring this week’s sites, videos and reading, I’ve had a few ideas of ways to incorporate collaborative projects into the classroom. Since my certification will be in Special Education, my classroom experience with students will vary based on content area and student needs, but one topic that applies to all students is internet safety. I will use this topic as the content area for the purpose of my specific examples here.

One way to incorporate collaboration into the classroom for this topic would be to create a class wiki. Students can research internet safety tips, informational videos and clips, etc. that they can share by posting to the wiki. They could also discuss their findings right on the page and respond to the comments of their classmates. Since there could potentially be new resources to post throughout the school year, the wiki is a great place to maintain this history, As the year progresses and new resources are added, students can continue to have a dialog about the topic. This topic can also be expanded to include other pertinent and related content like cyberbulling, responsible use of the internet, and the consequences of publishing content to the public. The discussions that correspond to this topic have the potential to be extremely relatable to children based on their previous experience and prior knowledge. The role of the teacher as a moderator in this process is essential to monitor content “so concerns about inaccuracies will be taken care of as part of the teaching and learning process” (Levin & Schrum, 2009, p. 50).

Another collaborative way to encourage students to explore this topic would be to make a video, SMARTboard presentation or podcast about a relevant issue. A predetermined set of choices can be given (similarly to our experience in EDCI 5825 for our video editing project) in order to keep the content focused on a particular topic and still allowing for choice based on student interest. The group dynamic will provide students with the opportunity to create one final project compiled from their multiple perspectives and approaches to the task. As a result, there will be multiple final projects that can be shared on the class wiki that has been created over the course of the school year. As an instructor, I would probably show a few examples of appropriate videos that are already in existence, like the ones on NetSmartz.org. These videos showed examples of real stories that are relatable and will encourage students to think about their own experiences, and to role play as to how they might behave in a similar situation. One particular example that has currently been in the news recently that might resonate with students is Your Photo Fate, which warns against putting your photos in the hands of others (NetSmarts.org). This site was very effective in delivering the message of the importance of internet safety and is something I will definitely use in my teaching experience.

With the two examples mentioned above, students are not only learning about the topic that they are researching but also gaining experience using the technology associated with the wiki itself, video editing, creating presentations, the use of the SMARTboard, web cams, etc. Hands on experiences with these forms of media will give students a chance to explore the various ways of sharing information and collaborating with each other.

References

Your Photo Fate. (n.d.).NetSmartz. Retrieved June 14, 2011, from
http://www.netsmartz.org/RealLifeStories/YourPhotoFate

Schrum, L., & Levin, B. B. (2009). Leading 21st century schools: harnessing technology for engagement and achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.