By Ahad Malik
In the article entitled ‘Collaborative Learning for the Digital Age’, Davidson is focusing on very important thing which mostly lacks in our institutions especially in K-12 teaching which is collaborative learning for the digital age like in our institutions teachers mostly promotes direct instructional model no one focus towards these type of interactive learning approach for the digital age so Davidson says that that a group of individuals can accomplish more than what any one individual (even an expert) can do because of the diversity of perspectives they collectively hold.
While the benefits of collaborative learning (such as developing oral communication skills, thinking skills, working as a team and addressing learning style differences between each other) have been apparent for some time, the advantages that the digital age has on the learning experience are only just starting to be recognized. Here are some of the ways in which collaborative learning is changing for the better… like regain control, Interaction, and enhanced group works.
I felt that Professor Davidson’s ‘iPod Experiment’ of 2006 was courageous and incredibly forward thinking. Her main purpose of ‘interconnection’, that students who had grown up connected digitally gravitated to ways that the iPod could be used for collective learning, makes so much sense now but I imagine at the time it was quite controversial and radical.
The author goes on to describe, ‘participatory learning’ a term used to describe how we can learn together from one another’s skills. These ideas resonate well with me, and how we work in our setting. Although we are not making use of the digital world for collaborative thinking, (so maybe I am missing the point of the article!) our four-year-old children are working in a collaborative, democratic way. Our curriculum is structured to be child-led, with child interest and child research driving the design in collaboration with the adults. So, what do you guys think?
Think, Analyze & Share 
it is always said that in order to make a change in a society, we first have to start from ourselves.
but in field of education, this statement can be taken as, to make a change we should start from kindergarten because to change an already existing system is something very difficult as our teachers are not trained that much. we can even ask 5th grade students to sit in group and discuss things but a grade 5 teacher won’t be able to handle them. so it is very important to teach teachers first.
but i will disagree with the point that teachers are focusing on direct instructional because schools are now practicing collaborative learning, if we go to any primary class, we will see students sitting in group in form of circles, this helps them to interact in better form, and they also work in groups.
According to the society we live in, yes institutional teachers mostly promoted the direct instructional model due to lack of resources and knowledge on how to handle collaborative learning in class but if noticed now collaborative learning is being promoted in our institutions. A development is being made, Collaborative Learning for the digital age is being used in many institutions but at a higher level such as university level as compared to institutions in the west who start using collaborative learning earlier. The concept of collaborative learning isn’t so common here and there are different reasons for that however I believe that yes collaborative learning is important and helpful it should also be promoted starting from kg as it has many benefits but at the same time I believe that the direct instructional model should be used in class side by side with collaborative learning as direct instructional model is also very important and beneficial.
yes, collaborative learning is not much supported in our cultural context because of lack of know how of the teachers, they are not trained in such a way that they can provide substantial activities for the group learning, so they go for the conventional direct model, but with the emphasis on the training of teachers, the change has initiated and will be continued, but still we lack in the digital part, again we don’t have enough recourses to inculcate digital thing in our curriculum. as we don’t give students to take part in collaborative learning from the very beginning (talking about public sector) so when they go for higher studies i.e universities, they feel lost, because suddenly they have to work with others, now they don’t only rely on themselves but also others, this sudden change creates chaos for them, so I think the concept of collaborative learning should be with the students from as early as they join the schools.
I would like to favor Cathy N. Davidson, because as far as feasibility of collaborative learning through a medium is concerned, even in our Pakistani context things have been changing, that’s why incorporating such methods that involves technology would be effective in teaching. I am not saying to get stick to this one way of teaching, one needs to be experimental with different methods of instruction.
Some of the benefits would be that it takes learning beyond one’s ‘Attention Blindness’, especially when you seek an unexpected and sustainable outcome from the students.
As the article suggests that research has indicated that, people take their writing more seriously when it will be evaluated by peers than when it is judged by their instructor. Therefore, a level of motivation to solve the problems collectively and to defend your opinion with a valid argumentation in a discussion would take learning to a higher order thinking skills.
collaborative learning should introduce in our k-12 education because it increases the opportunity of exploring new dimensions of versatile knowledge by enhancing the pace of mind grooming. It helps the mediums of learning, which is the prior most necessity of education as demanded by the persistence increasing development of modern world.Similarly it can motivate the students to improving their intellectual quotient by providing an easy and direct interaction with advanced research and upgraded lifestyles of students. In groups every student contribute their knowledge to everyone by collaborative writing and other learn new and interesting things from every student
i am very much in favor of collaborative learning, i think its the best way to learn from one anothers skills. In our educational system we have to make some changes to promote education in a better way. its motivates students to speak up and share their views in a better way. I think education should now be student centered, we can see this positive share already in our society many schools are promoting this but then again a major change has to be brought all over in the educational system. Education style must change now , Teacher oriented classes are so boring now i mean students now a days dont even like that , Teacher should bring out the skills of each students which is not so easy but alot of things can be done to motivate students and collaborative learning is one of those things.
I would like to enhance my ideas about cooperative and collaborative learning. Collaborative learning activities create opportunities for students to engage in subject specific discussions with peer and learn how to work cooperatively and support each other. It also helps students to develop effective teamwork and communication (including interpersonal and cross cultural awareness) skills. Collaborative learning assimilates multiple views to deepen knowledge and promote critical thinking. Till now, by my own experience I can say that it fosters individual accountability to the team and develop independent learning strategies.