Thursday, January 6, 2011

Module 3 - Collaboration

"Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia? How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?"


“Howard Rheingold: Way-New Collaboration”
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html


As a science person, I believe the basic nature of most organisms is to fend for oneself and survival of the fittest.  However, after time goes by, some organisms can find ways that collaborating and cooperating is better in the end.  As humans, we have not seen to many examples where collaboration has a better benefit than doing what is best for  oneself.  Howard Rheingold makes mention of the "Split Game" where two individuals who do not know each other are in different rooms and are given a problem.  They are given $100 and one individual decides how to split the money.  The other individual has the choice to either accept the offer, or if it is denied, no one gets the money.  The only time the offer was accepted was when the offer was as close to 50/50 as possible.  Howard Rheingold mentioned that it is to no benefit to deny even the $1 against getting $0 but this is what happens.

 Fortunately, we are now finding that we have the ability to truly collaborate and see the advantages of those working together for a single final result.  One great example is Wikipedia.  This site has multiple collaborators bringing information together for the good of all users, and there is no specific benefit to the individual.  But the one problem is that the people who offer to participate are individuals who are willing to volunteer, and these people are the minority.  If we can find a way to reward the individuals in some way or have the community receive a benefit that the individual would be proud of, then there will be a drive to collaborate.  But until then, I feel that the average human, especially Americans, are more willing to do for oneself rather than the greater good of the group.

7 comments:

  1. Richard-I tend to agree that in this day and age, even with the amount of change that collaborative efforts can bring forth, many people do think more about themselves than with through a team mentality. Greed really is an amazing, driving force.

    -Brandy

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  2. I posted to:

    http://ltet7105.blogspot.com/2011/01/walden-7105-mod-3.html

    http://durffsblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/be-afraid-be-very-afraid.html

    http://lkortecc.blogspot.com/2011/01/collaboration.html

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  3. Richard,

    I would have to disagree with you...I agree that greed is a pretty easy thing to find in our society but I do not think it means that it is how we work best. I think there are some great research studies that show that intrinsic motivation is much stronger than carrot and stick motivations...I found most of this in Dan Pink's Drive...here is his site: http://www.danpink.com/

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  4. Kat

    I totally understand your point of view. I guess what I saying is that collaboration is still in great competition with selfishness. Especially when an organization has a hierachial leadership. If there is selfish ness at higher level it makes it difficult to collaborate throughout. But I do think there are great examples of it working. We just have to get the right people to realize them.

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  5. Unfortunately my experience agrees with your conclusion: Most people will not voluntarily participate, some incentive must be offered. It is a sad commentary to our society. Even among educators this is true. Most people will watch others volunteer and then have the nerve to complain when they don't like the results.

    With that said, I also must concur with Rheingold that we are collaborative in nature when their are problems to solve. The key is to convince everyone involved that it is in their best interest to be active participants!

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  6. So the beginning of collaboration was trade amongst prehistoric people. A good example of collaboration during the Middle Ages would be the trade guilds. Using the power of collaboration and competition, certain groups became stronger than others.

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  7. I like your comparison to real-life given that learning is best when authentic. Symbiosis is a great example. Your post also made me think of something I got to witness first hand this past summer, humpback whales actually communicate and collaborate to make the most of mealtime with the least effort. It was amazing.
    Thank you for sharing and opening my mind to connections,
    ~Laurie

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