Collaborate Learning Activity #2

      Collaborative learning is where the teacher becomes a member of the group and is used primarily as a facilitator trying to keep students on track but allowing them to take their own path.  One factor that determines the efficiency of collaborative learning is the composition of the group. This factor is defined by several variables: the age and levels of participants, the size of the group, the difference between group members, etc.
     Regarding the number of members, small groups seems to function better than large groups in which some members tend be 'asleep' or excluded from interesting interactions. Regarding the participants, some developmental level is necessary to be able to collaborate, but this is only an issue for children and does hence not directly concern current distance education activities which mainly concern adult learners.      Deconstrucing Digital Natives, refers to the broadcast model as any communication is  essentially boadcast base; by definition  broadcast model is the transmission of information from transmitter to receiver in a one-way linear fasion. There is no  common understanding  without communication and no communication without broadcast.       Collaborative learning  is a personal philosophy, not just a classroom technique. In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people which respects and highlights individual group members' abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups actions. The underlying premise of collaborative learning is based upon consensus building through cooperation by group members, in contrast to competition in which individuals best other group members. Collaborative learning practitioners apply this philosophy in the classroom, at committee meetings, with community groups, within their families and generally as a way of living with and dealing with other people.      Don Tapscott, co-author of Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business And The World, argues that universities are woefully behind the times. "We need to move toward a collaborative model of learning that's student focused, [that's] highly customized and that is a model appropriate for a new generation that learns differently," says Tapscott. He warns that universities are ignoring the changing needs and desires of young people — and they're doing so at their own peril. http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137853462/rethinking-how-we-teach-the-net-generation  http://www.weteachwelearn.org/2010/06/the-case-for-collaborative-learning/ 
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/deliberations/collaborative-learning/panitz-paper.cfm