Collaborative
interaction has been greatly aided in its evolution by technology including the
World Wide Web and the Internet. Because
of these technologies, students are able to form online learning communities
and work together on assignments from remote locations around the world. Recently I attended my first webinars here at
Walden University. The facilitators and
presenters were in their offices and up to one hundred students and prospective
students shared in the information provided from individual homes, offices, or
wherever we had Internet access.
Companies can now meet with their counterparts in other parts of the
world using Internet technology. None of
this could have been done prior to the globalization of the World Wide Web and
Internet in the late 1990s.
The availability of software
such as Skype and Windows Live Meeting, as well as wikis, blogs, message
boards, and a variety of online learning platforms facilitate collaborative
interaction between learning communities, students and instructors, and presenters
and participating audiences. The quality
of these interactions is greatly enhanced by the ability to collaborate on a
global scale using the technology available today.
AJ,
ReplyDeleteYou are right about collaborating on a global scale. It is a wonderful experience and the establishment of learning communities would have been impossible with out the Internet. I am currently studying the work of L. S. Vygotsky (1978) who theorized that collaboration is the key for enhancing the learning process especially among peers.
Nice Blog!
Val
Reference
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.(Cole, M., Joh-Steiner, V., Scribner, S. & Soubermen, E., Eds. & Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The Internet has afforded global citizens the opportunity to collaborate like never before, making the world feel so much smaller. However, this potential for collaboration is limited when countries do not put in place the infrastructure to support high levels of Internet traffic. I love the idea of attending Webinars. I have to admit that to date, I have not been able to access one. You see, even though I live in Germany, which is considered to be a technologically advanced country, I do not have access to high speed Internet at my school or at home. Let me explain. We do have high speed Internet at school, but the bandwidth is so small that any streaming video comes through choppy. It probably works best on the weekend when there is less traffic on the network. My understanding is that the costs to increase the bandwidth are astronomical. At home, our connection is just a tad bit faster than dial up. I pay nearly $100 per month for a poor quality service. This is a ridiculous price, but I am over a barrel because I would be isolated without it. I am fortunate that I can afford it, but what about those who cannot?
ReplyDeleteIf distance education is to be truly diffused in society as the answer to providing access to a quality education to all, all people must have access to high speed Internet at a reasonable price. Actually, a recent article on MSN reported that the UN has taken the position that Internet access is a basic human right (see the link to the article below). I would like them to revise their statement to say that, “high speed, low cost Internet access is a basic human right.” This is one way to ensure that global citizens truly have the opportunity to be collaborative learners.
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/03/6781285-un-report-internet-access-is-a-basic-human-right
I posted comments to the following blogs this week:
ReplyDeletehttp://mitchellstevensv.blogspot.com/2011/09/global-diversity.html (comment needs approval before posting)
and http://lauralee1123.blogspot.com/2011/09/module-2-elements-of-distance-education.html#comments