Collaboration

What can we gain through collaboration? After going through last week's readings of "The World is Open," I learned that collaboration allows students to gain perspectives from outside of the classroom walls.

For instance, if a classroom in the United States collaborates through iEARN or ePals, they can work with students in classrooms across the world. Collaboration allows the students to learn from not just reading a textbook about the Philippines, but it allows them to learn about the country through speaking to Filipino students and teachers. This gives them the first-hand learning experience; as close as they can get to actually visiting the country.

Collaboration can also be used inside the classroom by pairing students up in groups. Although this isn't as different a perspective as speaking to someone on the Internet in a different country, it still gives the students a different perspective/opinion from another student in their class.

Other things we can gain through collaboration, can be learned by using social networking sites like Facebook.com and Twitter.com. These sites allow people to share their ideas in a fast, simple way.

There is nothing you can't gain through collaboration. It just expands everyone's knowledge.