Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

In this week’s resources, we had the chance to look at cooperative learning as one technique in social learning theory. The most interesting aspect of cooperative learning for me was looking at group learning from the teacher’s perspective. Cooperative learning is not just students getting together and sharing. If left to this, the class will breakdown in a hurry. Cooperative learning involves the teacher preparing the class. Students need to know what they will be doing, know with whom they will be working, know what their role in the group will be, and know what a successful group effort would look like. Also after the session, students need time to reflect and evaluate what happened in their group. When done with purpose and focus students can use this social avenue to create meaning and knowledge.


I feel that technology has a place in social learning theory. Using Google Docs or Voice Thread are just two ways in which people can work together in groups to produce an artefact that can be shared with others. I feel the availability to share and edit documents in Google Docs has many applications in the classroom. Peer edits, group information gathering are just two ways to use Google Docs. I was fascinated with Voice Thread. Having students able to share their views on a subject matter and then have others reflect and comment back is a great feature. I think that being able to respond with a variety of methods, allows even the most reserved student the chance to participate. Seeing that Voice Thread is a web-based tool, students will make sure that their responses are as good as they can produce. The cancel feature makes this possible. I have a colleague in another school in the division where I teach whose class will do a group project with my class. Groups will be made between the classes and they will produce an artefact. If I can arrange this with the division, I would like to see the use of a wiki or Google Docs to accomplish the task. Time will tell.


Social learning theory has been proven to work in the classroom. Using and incorporating technology in group work, gives students an even greater chance to make meaning. The one downside I see is the requirement for emails to set up user accounts. The school where I teach does not allow for student emails. In fact, the division does not allow for many social web tools that students could make good use of in class. We cannot blog, set up a reader, use Google Docs, have certain wikis, etc. Research indicates that students need to learn the skill of working with others to be successful in the job market. Some school divisions refuse to allow for this type of learning with the incorporation of technology. I will say that my division is considering ePals which will alleviate some of the current downfalls. My hope is that school divisions can catch up in their thinking and policies to give students the chance they need to be successful in he workforce. I feel that in some ways school divisions are good at talking theory, but do not make the necessary changes needed. In essence, they are not allowing for the growth and changes needed to alter schools the way they claim is required.

Please see my Voice Thread at http://voicethread.com/share/1188573. Feel free to leave a comment.