Cooperative learning is a long standing strategy for teachers and focuses on group interaction to enhance learning. Being able to function productively in groups is a 21st century skill that is needed by all students today. Technology plays a major role in facilitating group collaboration. Just think how challenging it would be having a group activity without connectivity. Web enabled collaborative learning enables students to communicate all over the globe and provides structure for group tasks. We all know how useful blogs and wikis are in giving students a platform to communicate and work together. Connectivism is all about forming networks and navigating networks of knowledge which technology enables.
I really enjoyed the Voice Thread activity we created this week. It reminded me of a Power Point presentation but I thought the capabilities were more beneficial to the audience and of course allowing feedback and discussion makes it all powerful. Too many times I have students with wordy text on Power Points that takes away from the message. I constantly preach to my students less is more with text and verbally talk about your message with the use of graphics. Voice thread is a great way for pictures and videos to speak volumes without the typical Power Point structure. Next year, you can bet my students will be using Voice Thread and I’m looking forward to the feedback and discussion that will be generated that otherwise would not happen. Cooperative learning is here to stay and technology will continue to open new doors for collaboration.
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I had a similar thought about wordy Power Points and how VoiceThread can aid in alleviating that. Allowing peers to monitor, say a writing sample, will give students to offer positive suggestions and feedback. This application is a wonderful way to establish networks and build connections to prior knowledge and new concepts.
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