One of the thoughts I had (for future years, as it will take quite a bit of planning) is to team up with students in a different part of the world for a collaborative learning experience. Students can use the Internet to communicate with one another, sharing photographs of local landforms and discussing local traditions and culture. While researching the implications and directions of such a project, I came across a very informative article written by Aaron Fowles (n.d.) for the University of North Carolina School of Education on the topic of international classroom collaboration. (see article here)
Fowles (n.d.) recommends using a variety of tools for the collaborative process (text, video, email, message boards, etc.) and bringing all of these tools to the same place, such as a blog or a wiki. This way, students not only have a workspace, but also a format for socializing with one another.
He also advises having a strict timeline in place before beginning a project. There are many pitfalls that students on either end may encounter, so it is important to be flexible but also to have the content goals always in mind.
Other web resources:
- ePALS Classroom exchange and KidLink are resources for teachers to use to find partner schools and/or existing collaborative projects to join.
- The US Department of Education has a webpage dedicated to international collaboration on the Internet. This page provides additional advice and resources for teachers to get started.
Reference:
Fowles, A. (n.d.). International classroom collaboration on the worldwide web. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6910
Seems like you have a good idea. Would you have the students share their blog links with one another? Would the students share their information in the comments section? Seems like your activity could be a good use of blogs.
ReplyDeleteWould you have the students blog from home or do you have the technology in your classroom for the students to each complete their assignments? (I guess you could go to the media center if you don't have the technology in your classroom, but that could be challenging if you have to compete with other classes who may also want to use the media center computers.)
ReplyDeleteKen - I am on the fence on whether it would be better to have them share blog links or to have them do a class wiki. I think the blog is more aesthetically pleasing (at least compared to the blogs we have used in this grad program so far) but it might be more difficult for them to access each other's work and truly collaborate. But maybe it's best to have the independent space that a blog can provide for an activity like this, especially if I were able to pair up each of my students with an international student.
ReplyDeleteJoe - Those are valid questions. My kids don't have access at home, but (assuming I am in the same school next year when I can possibly launch this project) we are able to take the kids to the computer lab once a week for teacher-led instructional time (at 45 minutes a clip). I think that if students prepare in advance for what they want to add to the blog, 45 minutes would be enough time to post the new entry and respond to any comments from the previous week. (maybe??)
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie, This is a cool idea to anchor ideas into a third grade student’s mind and work on writing skills too. Can you set up the exercise to be cross-discipline: reading, language arts, social studies? Finding the instructional time is always a challenge. It does sound like an interesting way to try to flip the classroom.
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