A better way to jigsaw using the web
With the Web 2.0, collaboration is the name of the game – but it’s about more than that. We’ve regretfully moved past the era of the armchair philosopher. While this will indefinitely put the kibosh on my career aspirations, it will provide an exciting landscape for those entering and moving about the workforce over the course of the next hundred years or so. Dare to give collaboration a try in your classroom. I guarantee that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. As I’ve mentioned, Web 2.0 is all about collaboration.
Allow students to collaborate on study guides for their guided reading books, textbooks, or any other content that could use some further digestion. Encourage conversation and initiate dialogue. This collaboration can be done using Google Documents, but it can also be accomplished, quite easily, using a wiki (such as WikiSpaces).
Through collaboration, students will have taken on the role of differentiating the content in question for those who may struggle with it in its previous incarnation. If you are concerned that everyone is pulling their weight (I choose to concern myself with whether or not the students are learning – by whatever means necessary), you can track collaboration from the administrator’s page; but why not instead focus your efforts on making the experience more engaging so that student’s want to participate?
Empower your students to create videos, podcasts, slide shows, or artwork on the topic in question. Encourage them to scour the internet, researching supplementary resources such as video clips, relevant websites, or BrainPOP lessons.
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July 3rd, 2008 at 2:35 am
[...] post is a follow-up to a post I wrote last week about using Web 2.0 strategies to encourage collaborative student learning. Web 2.0 is all about sharing and collaboration; with any luck, so is your classroom. The trick is [...]