Collective intelligence

Collective intelligence


Since I proclaimed my love for Wikipedia, I figured it appropriate to quote a definition from the site. Wikipedia defines Collective intelligence as a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. The article goes on to explain With the development of the Internet and its widespread use, the opportunity to contribute to community-based knowledge forums, such as Wikipedia, is greater than ever before. These computer networks give participating users the opportunity to store and to retrieve knowledge through the collective access to these databases and allow them to “harness the hive” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_intelligence)

I think well known clichés help start the discussion on both the advantages and disadvantages of collective intelligence. As my mother says ‘Two heads are better than one’ however as my granny argues ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. This topic is very wide therefore I have decided to focus on the use of collective intelligence in a closed school forum to discuss further.

As teachers (nearly) I think we have to use our discretion on when the use of collective intelligence is appropriate in the classroom. This is also important when we allow our students to roam the web- especially web 2.0.
For collective intelligence to prosper there has to be a free flow of information. This information has to be processed in some way to form knowledge rather than random opinions/facts. The teacher can harness the students’ information in a private forum easily acting as a facilitator as and when required. In my opinion this is excellent for the students as they can read the thoughts and contributions of their peers and hopefully increase their learning. However without the harnessing of information there is a risk that:

1. Students go off task, discussing this, that and everything.
2. Information that is factually untrue is left uncorrected and therefore believed to be true.
3. Some students dominate the discussion forums.
4. Other students don’t participate.
5. Repetitive contributions may flood the forum
6. No finish point is ever established

Collective intelligence involving the technology that is now at our finger tips, in most schools, I think will be an exciting but very worthwhile project. Like all lessons, careful planning will be needed to ensure maximum learning. Social Constructivism is becoming a popular teaching method in our classrooms and this is a great tool to achieve this.

Wikipedia is wicked!

My love for wikipedia cannot be written in words, it's unconditional, constant and sometimes inappropriate. The only thing that comes close to my wikipedia love is my love for haggis with HP sauce, mmmm.
Wikipedia has helped solve many a house debate, usually confirming the knowledge I already had! Most recently was the debate regarding the inventor of penicillin, which of course was the esteemed Scottish Nobel prize winner - Flemming. The agruee was soon silenced and his confidence shot with a click of a button. Wikipedia I thankyou for the small moment of glory albeit short lived, as the person in question soon started another painful conversation. Advantage No.2 is the space it allows me to have. In the olden days my shelfs were rammed with hardback books ranging from a-z. This wealth of information can now be found in my laptop - wow! The only thing I miss about the books is not being able to smell them, a strange but surprisingly common fetish!
Oh and wikipedia is free, being Scottish I probably should have that as my number. 1 point! Long live Wikipedia.
Educationally I will obviously have to highlight possible dangers of relying purely on information quoted in wikipedia. This however will not be site specific and I will teach students to always be questioning the reliability of information on the net.

Blogging on Blogs!

The thought of writing on Constructivism, even with a new slant, brings back memories of stress and sore fingers from the Teaching and Learning exam! Therefore for this task, I will highlight some of the advantages of using blogs in Education. I should qualify that some (or actually all) of this information is not original to Davo's thinking but is actually a combination of thoughts stripped from other blogs and the general web!

Fellow teachers in training, why should we use blogs for education?

The DET explains Blogs provide a communication space that teachers can utilise with students whenever there is a curriculum need to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom. From an education perspective the availability and ease of use of blogging software makes creating blogs a viable classroom activity and a means for teachers to communicate with other teachers.

A well respected New Technologies lecturer at UWA details, a blog can function as a reflective diary but it can also be the centrepiece of a conversation, since readers can leave comments for the blog's author and each other, forging connections and community around topics of mutual interest. Advantages for students include the fact that they are writing for a wider audience - whether the entire internet in a public blog, or a more restricted group of class peers in a private class blog - and can receive feedback, thus co-constructing knowledge with others as they develop their online personas. Blogs are commonly 'in conversation' with one another, as bloggers link to and comment on each other's ideas.

Now, I realise that this is not my thinking, but seeing I am new to both blogging and education, I figured it was best not to share my ignorant opinions. That said I am more than happy to receive other peoples thoughts, ignorant or not!