Collaborative Learning Using Concept Maps

My discussions thus far on teaching strategies for the 21st century have been primarily on collaborative concepts and their importance. Classroom to classroom interaction, via video transmission, is a valuable tool for sharing ideas and learning strategies. This allows students of different settings to exchange geographic information specific to their area and apply this immediate information to the content area being explored. This would replace the laboratory exercises of having students gather site-specific information by means of web-browsing. Students from different regions would support and enhance each other's education. But this collaboration should not stop there. The next logical phase of this educational strategy would be to have the students intellectualize this newly acquired information through continued collaboration. The students from each geographic setting could then develop a common "collaborative" theme through the sharing and revising of concept maps. A web-site which focuses on the development of collaborative concept maps is www.webspiration.com. This site allows students to individually create concept maps and then share and develop these ideas as a class. These concept maps allows students to think constructively and creatively as a class which further enhances individual development.

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) was an educational psychologist who developed a sociocultural theory regarding education ( www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/vygotsky.htm). He believed successful educational development is dependent upon the interaction between people and their supporting culture so that as individuals they can best understand their world. His theory also suggests that optimum cognitive development lies within a certain time span (Zone of Proximal Development) (www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/Dhsiao/theories.html). He defined this zone as a "region of activities" where individuals can succeed with the assistance of their peers. This article further states that Vygotsky's sociocultural approach to learning can be successfully implemented using Computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL).

Developing computer-based concept maps through collaborative efforts by students with the assistance of teachers can greatly enhance the educational development of individuals.