Technology and Classroom Collaboration
By Phin Upham
Technology in the classroom has helped shape the future of learning through collaborative projects. Collaboration is crucial in developing a student’s lust for learning, as it contributes to their sense of self-worth and helps them develop social skills. Students also benefit from peer tutoring, taking cues from those who are more advanced.
The Importance of Tutoring
Technology presents two challenges. The first is in using the technology itself, which is where both students and teachers fit an important role. Students often tutor one another in the classroom, helping each other to troubleshoot problems and overcome hurdles. Collaboration emphasizes this behavior by limiting the number of terminals that students have access to. The more advanced students naturally fill the role of tutor in these situations, guiding their less-informed peers on how to complete certain objectives.
Students want to help each other too. Studies show that students who demonstrate a mastery of computer skills tend to derive a stronger sense of self worth.
Critiquing
Students also tend to display work with a high degree of legibility. That invites others to comment on the work they find, and will usually comment on a work in progress. Kids who do help each other contribute to a completely different tone in the classroom. The focus is no longer on creating an assignment for an A+, rather to create an assignment that represents that best efforts of everyone involved. Projects tend to be graded based on how students perform during the creation process, as much as the finished product.
Phin Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or LinkedIn page.