Reflection 6

Reflection 6
What is a Telecollaborative lesson? A telecollaborative lesson is simply an educational project in which people share information with other people over the internet. (Tools and Resources for Developing a Telecollaborative Project) An example of this would be to get your classroom and another classroom in another country to communicate and share information about a common subject. There are some steps to organize a telecollaborative project. I will explain each step to get a better understanding of it. Step one is choosing the curricular goal or goals. There are two very important factors that need to be taken into account when designing the goals. First of all you need to make sure that they tie directly to the curriculum and second to make sure that it could be accomplished using more traditional learning. The teacher should also try to identify not only what the students will be learning but also what activities they will be completing. (Harris, 1994) We move on to step two which is choosing the structure of the activity. There are many different ways in which these activities can be organized. Sixteen structures have been identified that help make the learning process easier for the students. They are divided into 3 groups. We have the Interpersonal Exchanges group which includes the following structures: keypals, global classrooms, electronic appearances, electronic mentoring, and impersonations. The second group is Information Collections which includes: information exchanges, database creations, electronic publishing, tele-fieldtrips, and pooled data analysis. The last group is Problem-Solving Projects which includes: information searches, parallel problem-solving, electronic process writing, serial creations, simulations, and social action projects. (Harris, 1994) Now we have step three which is exploring examples of other online projects. It is a great idea to view examples of other projects after you have decided which structure you will be implementing. There is something called Gopher which provides a collection of precollege online activity descriptions which can be viewed for extra help. (Harris, 1994) As we continue to step four we are ready to determine the details of the project. I will give you an idea of what some of the details should include: the projects title, the purpose, the contact information of the person in charge, usually the teacher, the curricular areas, grade level, number of people, summary of the project, how to register, timeline of the project, procedure, sample, and the conclusion of the project. (Harris, 1994) The next step would be number five which is to invite telecollaborators. After the project has been set-up and uploaded to the internet, you should write a description to be posted in public discussions. After this, we have step six. In this step you form the telecollaborative group. After you have responses from people, you should send them the detailed file and this way form the group. Step seven is basically to communicate. Finally we reach the last step. Step eight is to create the closure. (Harris, 1994)