In the Unit 14 Signature Assignment, we were to focus on one learning theory, and were allowed to elaborate on just one aspect of the learning theory as long as we contextualized it. Outlined below you will find the central sections of the paper.
Purpose and Goals: In this section, we were to outline the reason why we were focusing on this learning theory as well as explain the relevance of our discussion. In other words, were to clearly set forth our thesis about the learning theory we chose.
Explanation of Learning Theory: We were to describe the learning theory in clearly articulated terms. While we could certainly rely on Harasim (2017) for our discussion, we did need to extend the definition of the learning theory. In other words, we would need to do more research about the specific learning theory.
Role of Facilitator: Every learning theory ascribes certain roles and responsibilities to the facilitator, and we needed to describe the role of the instructor or trainer within the learning theory, providing concrete examples. In other words, what does pedagogy look like within this learning theory?
Role of Student: Every learning theory posits an image of the students and even more specifically generates what learning looks like. How do people go about learning? What does it mean to learn? What does it involve on the part of the students/professionals? How do the students/professionals work and learn together?
Learning Environment: What would be the optimal learning environment for this learning theory. We need to explore both on-ground and online variants. We needed to be very specific in this section. For example, what would the on-ground classroom look like? What components of online environments would be emphasized? What tools would students use to work together?
Instructional Materials (Curriculum): What types of instructional materials would be most useful within this learning theory? What methods of assessment would work best?
Classroom/Workplace Exercises and Technologies: We were to design at least two classroom/workplace exercises, including a technological component for each exercise, that best illustrates what should be occurring within that learning environment. We were to look back at Harasim’s (2017) discussion to see what assignments include within that specific learning theory.
Equity and Access: In this section, we needed to consider how the technology used in conjunction with the learning theory allows for a transformation of access and equity in including new participants in the educational/professional arena, provides more resources, expands the reach of education, and so on.
Relevant articles: Using APA format, we would be including our references. We were to include at least five peer-reviewed articles that we found independently and were not course readings. We were allowed to include additional sources.
6-8 double-spaced pages, excluding the title page, abstract, and references.
Collaborativist Learning Theory: Elaboration and Expansion
Frank Jamison
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
EP600 The Psychology of Learning
Dr. Jessica Evans
February 26, 2023
Abstract
This paper begins with the reasoning for my focus on Collaborativism (aka Online Collaborative Learning or OCL). It then describes what OCL is and Harasim’s (2007) three stages of learning: Idea Generating, Idea Organizing, and Intellectual Convergence. The paper follows this up by explaining the role of the facilitator as a representative of “science” in the knowledge community and the role of the student as an active participant in co-constructing knowledge through shared understanding. The conversation then focuses on a description of the virtual OCL environment. Instructional materials in the form of lecture videos, chat rooms, contextual discussion forums, and frequently asked questions are examined, followed by two collaborative learning activities, the Research Project Pitch and Team Jeopardy, designed with the online classroom in mind. Finally, the paper closes with an examination of equity and access online and Harasim’s (2007) belief that we must immediately take up the challenge to develop and implement educational and socio-economic strategies that contribute to the enlightenment of society and the Knowledge Age on a global scale. Meeting this challenge by reinventing and transforming education so that we can foster human creativity, equity, ethics, and civil understanding through the enhancement of teaching and learning.
Collaborativist Learning Theory: Elaboration and Expansion
Due to my extensive background in technology and my decade of experience as an online student, I felt particularly drawn to Harasim’s (2007) Online Collaborative Learning theory. While studying for my Bachelor’s degree at National University, I got to experience the Collaborativist Learning paradigm first-hand. My Master’s degree, on the other hand, did not subscribe to collaborative learning. As a result, I did not find my time there as memorable as I did at National University. Now that I am learning about the psychology of learning and its correlation with technology, I can appreciate why I found one experience so much better than the other.
As this paper goes through the history of Online Collaborative Learning, the roles of both student and teacher, and the overall learning environment, I became excited to develop future activities I might use with my students. I did have some difficulty finding collaborative activities geared toward online students, but with my newfound knowledge, I was able to transform some face-to-face activities to achieve my goal.
Finally, I am excited to see how collaborative activities online lead to equitable outcomes through group diversity. The act of working together to achieve a common goal can be seen throughout history, from the raising of a barn to the quest to place a man on the moon. Seeing collaboration at work through an online medium is just another step in the evolution of education. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
Collaborativism Explained
As Harasim (2017) explains it, the Collaborativist theory provides a learning model that encourages and supports students working together to acquire and create knowledge. This theory is based on three key learning processes or stages that advance from divergent to convergent thinking. The three stages, in order, are Idea Generating, Idea Organizing, and Intellectual Convergence.
During the first phase, Idea Generating, group members brainstorm, verbalize, generate information, and thus share ideas and positions regarding a particular subject. The second phase, Idea Organizing, demonstrates intellectual progress and the beginning of convergence as participants confront new or different ideas, demonstrating conceptual change. In order to select the strongest ideas and eliminate the weaker, these new ideas must be clarified and clustered based on their similarities and relationships to one another. Finally, there is the Intellectual Convergence phase, which is typically characterized by a shared understanding (including agreeing to disagree) or a mutual contribution to and construction of a knowledge product or solution.
Collaborativism, according to Harasim (2017), refers to educational applications that rely on the internet to facilitate collaborative discourse and knowledge sharing and is described as a collaborative approach that emphasizes processes that produce conceptual understandings and knowledge products. This form of online learning involves students identifying and advancing issues of understanding. They then use their acquired knowledge, analytical terms, and tools to solve problems, construct plans, and develop explanations.
The Role of Facilitator
A teacher’s role in the active learning model is not clearly defined and is often reduced to simple participation without any added benefit. However, by emphasizing the role of discourse as theorized by Lev Vygotsky, collaborative learning theory builds on constructivist learning theory. As a knowledge community representative, the instructor facilitates peer discourse informed by the processes and resources therein.
Harasim (2017) posits that, in this learning theory, it is the instructor’s responsibility to structure the course as a series of group discussions addressing the issues of the discipline. To encourage informed debate, the instructor introduces appropriate concepts and resources. Their goal is to promote and model the analytical language of a field for examining and solving problems, facilitating discussion to assist students in reaching Intellectual Convergence.
In addition to facilitating group discussion, teachers also serve as representatives of the “science” within the knowledge community and help to introduce learners to the subject matter. As a result, students can observe the behavior and processes of the knowledge community when addressing knowledge problems.
The Student’s Role
In every learning theory, a picture of students is posited, as is a description of what learning will look like. For example, in the Collaborativist Theory, it is generally assumed that students will generate knowledge and skills from participating in activities that interest them through “active learning” or “learning by doing.”
A student’s ideas and opinions are contributed to the group during the Idea Generating stage. The process of brainstorming allows students to express their ideas and confront those generated by others. As the students progress through the Idea Organizing stage, they begin to reflect on the various ideas presented and interact with one another.
The teacher continuously informs the students’ discussions with readings and other resources, and they begin to learn and apply analytical concepts and techniques related to the discipline. As a result, they adopt a common language and framework.
While identifying relationships and organizing linkages to highlight the strongest ideas, participants agree or disagree, clarify, question, critique, elaborate, and reject ideas. Several small ideas become a few large ones, and individual understandings develop into group analyses as a result of convergence.
During the Intellectual Convergence stage, the student actively engages in co-constructing knowledge through shared understanding. As a result, their ideas and knowledge are synthesized into explicit positions or points of view. At this stage, consolidated, shared understandings are formed that represent group convergence, as evidenced by conclusive statements and/or co-productions (such as theories, positions, strategies, tools, manifestos, and scientific theories/hypotheses).
The Online Learning Environment
Interactivity, social context, and technology comprise the theoretical foundation for creating a sustainable, interactive, and collaborative online educational community via various technologies (Tu & Corry, 2002). Interactivity incorporates concepts and designs that engage learners in collaborative learning activities. A learner-centered learning community is what social context refers to, and knowledge development, along with management, is supported and enhanced by the third construct, technology. Each of these constructs blends and overlaps with the other to the extent that using one without including the other two is impossible. As part of the process of implementing online collaborative learning, it is also essential that a sense of “community” is created (Tu & Corry, 2003).
Tu and Corry (2003) emphasize that in order to promote collaborative learning, building a “community” is the key to making online learning effective. For a student to achieve the most effective learning experience possible, an interactive online learning environment must be designed with a fully integrated approach. Using a sparse collection of unrelated, disconnected, and fragmented learning activities scattered throughout will not accomplish anything.
The foundation of an engaging and effective collaborative online learning community according to Tu and Corry (2003) is communication. In order to provide support and monitor progress, the instructor must communicate regularly with every team and individual throughout the course via e-mail or other computer-mediated communication methods. By attending discussions and team meetings, instructors provide psychological and substantive support.
In an online learning environment, synchronous and/or asynchronous online discussions are fundamental. It is essential that students participate in course discussions as individuals rather than as members of a team. In a large class, Tu & Corry (2003) note that many messages require reading and responding, which may overwhelm the students and cause them to skip messages or withdraw from discussions. The difficulty of conducting online discussions is greatly reduced if large groups are subdivided into smaller groups/teams.
The use of multiple communication technologies by online learners is most effective, according to Tu and Corry (2003). It is critical to allow learners to use the communication technology that is most comfortable for them in different locations, at different times, and in different situations. Instructors should allow learners to have some flexibility in determining what communication forms are used for class activities and team activities.
Common tools for discourse include forums, wikis, blogs, social networks, and Google tools, and with the development of Web2 tools that allow users to share documents and upload images and multimedia files to a network (Picasa, YouTube, etc.), collaborative learning options have expanded over the Internet in recent years to include local, national, and international projects (Shonfeld and Gibson, 2019).
Instructional Materials
In Yang and Liu’s (2007) study, web-based virtual online classrooms are developed using interactive tools and contextual learning scenes. In their view, a web-based virtual online classroom consists of a collaborative learning environment and a communication environment for instructors. Teachers use the instructional communicating environment to control the learning and teaching process and determine what knowledge should be presented or delivered. The purpose of collaborative learning environments is to encourage students to participate actively in the learning process.
Providing effective interactive tools and contextual learning scenes, the Web-based virtual online classroom encourages learners to explore information freely and enables them to interact with one another, as Yand and Liu (2007) explain. Learning materials are transferred in an instructional communicating environment, and instantaneous interactions occur. To enhance interactivity, this environment also includes efficient tools such as bulletin boards, chat rooms, etc. As part of the collaborative learning environment, learners are encouraged to explore and communicate freely. In addition, they are provided with other learning tools, such as lecture videos, chat rooms, contextual discussion forums, and frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Yang and Liu (2007) note that learning materials and lecture videos can also be retrieved on demand. In a live broadcast, learners can view the lecture simultaneously. Additionally, the live broadcast content can be saved as courseware for content-on-demand. As a result, streaming media technologies can distribute these streams and files to multiple audiences.
To assess whether learners have achieved the learning objectives, online instruction engages learners in various assignment activities. Assignments are often designed as individual activities requiring learners to work alone with limited support from their classmates. However, Tu and Corry (2003) point out that by allowing and encouraging students to obtain peer support, assignments become social exercises that maintain their original objectives. This way assignments may be performed more efficiently, and peer evaluation activities may be added to the process.
This design requires learners to produce two drafts of an assignment, a first draft, and a final draft. The first draft of the assignment is distributed to teammates, who review it and provide constructive feedback. A final draft is prepared with peer feedback and then submitted for assessment. Students participate in three rich learning processes during this collaborative process: preparing an initial draft, providing constructive feedback, and revising the final draft based on peer feedback (Tu & Corry, 2003).
In addition, Tu & Corry (2003) argue that team involvement in the moderation of online discussions enhances the learning process. Each team is responsible for leading an online discussion of at least one lesson. Based on required readings or assignments from the instructor, the team prepares discussion questions and moderates the discussion in accordance with the guidelines provided. Students must be given the discussion questions before the lesson begins. The team initiates discussions that motivate their classmates to participate, challenge each other’s thinking, share information, and stimulate critical thinking. The team posts a summary of the discussion after completing its moderation responsibilities.
Virtual Classroom Exercises
Research Project Pitch
In this online exercise, students are placed into groups of three to four and asked to collaboratively develop an idea for their course research project. Once a topic is chosen, each team will work together to create a short video describing their research project by answering the following three questions:
1. What question are you trying to answer with your research?
2. What general methods will you use to conduct your study?
3. What are your predictions for the outcome of your research?
Once completed, students will post their videos on the course discussion board for peer review and feedback.
Students can use this topic to explain their research projects (with a middle school audience in mind). As a result, the teacher can identify misconceptions/confusion regarding how the students perceive their project (i.e., the context within which the students’ project fits). Students can also develop an “elevator pitch” for describing their research to individuals outside the scientific community.
Team Jeopardy
In the Team Jeopardy activity, adapted from The K. Patricia Cross Academy (2021). the class is divided into five teams in the first part of the activity. Each team must work together to develop three questions of increasing difficulty, along with the answers from one of the five topics provided by the instructor. Once the team agrees upon the three questions and answers, they will submit them to the instructor via the course learning management system (LMS).
The instructor will take the three questions received from each of the five groups and supply two additional questions for each topic along with five increasingly difficult questions from a surprise topic to add to the PowerPoint Jeopardy template (Gayo, 2021).
In the second part of the activity, student teams participate synchronously in a zoom session and take turns selecting a square from a grid that is organized vertically by category and horizontally by difficulty. Each square shows the number of points the team can earn if they answer a question correctly, and more challenging questions have the potential to earn more points. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Equity and Access
A major educational benefit of computer networking can be summarized by Harasim (2007) as the emergence of new and expanded opportunities for extensive communication and collaboration among a diverse group of peers and instructors. Various terms reflecting the potential for computer communication to enable in-depth educational discourse include, among other things, learning networks, electronic pen pals, online learning circles, computer-supported collaborative learning, knowledge forums, listservs, online seminars, computer-supported cooperative work, and online communities.
As Harasim (2007) states in her book, access to diverse perspectives, cultures, and input is one factor contributing to the success of collaborative environments. Multiple perspectives are encouraged by the participation of individuals from different geographical locations and backgrounds. Discourse that is place-independent also allows the participation of outside experts or participants to enrich classroom discussions.
As Harasim (2007) discusses, group input enables multiple perspectives to enrich the consideration of an idea or topic. The development of online forums or conference systems facilitates group conversations and allows participants to contribute their ideas and opinions, thereby creating diverse ideas, reactions, and feedback. Forums have proven to be an excellent medium for the communication of divergent input, such as verbalization and brainstorming. By facilitating the exchange of ideas from diverse perspectives and sources, they facilitate the development of creativity. Participants can refine their understanding and knowledge by responding and interacting with various ideas.
The challenge for education, based on Harasim (2007), is to develop and implement educational and socio-economic strategies that contribute to the enlightenment of society and the Knowledge Age on a global scale, as well as to increase human learning and progress while avoiding the negative consequences of reliance on artificial intelligence.
Harasim (2007) believes it is possible for educators to achieve this goal if they immediately take up the challenge and begin engaging in conversations with one another, with students, and/or the public, locally and globally, about the nature of these challenges as well as our ability to reinvent and transform education so that we can foster human creativity, equity, ethics, and civil understanding by enhancing teaching and learning.
References
Gayo, J. C. (2021). Interactive jeopardy. free powerpoint template & google slides theme. SlidesCarnival. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://www.slidescarnival.com/jeopardy-free-presentation-template/11277
Harasim, L. (2017). Learning theory and online technologies (Second ed.). Routledge, an imprint of Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315716831
Shonfeld, M., & Gibson, D. (2019). Collaborative learning in a global world. Information Age Publishing, Incorporated.
The K. Patricia Cross Academy. (2021). Team jeopardy. The K. Patricia Cross Academy. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://kpcrossacademy.org/techniques/team-jeopardy/
Tu, C., & Corry, M. (2002). eLearning communities. Information Age Pub.
Tu, C., & Corry, M. (2003). Building active online interaction via a collaborative learning community. Computers in the Schools, 20(3), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1300/J025v20n03_07
Yang, Z., & Liu, Q. (2007). Research and development of web-based virtual online classroom. Computers & Education, 48(2), 171-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2004.12.007
Assignment Grade: 99/100
