Cheater or Collaborator?
June 30, 2009
As more social technologies and processes enter the classroom, new questions arise about how these tools and processes serve teaching and learning. Many have
the potential to create dynamic learning environments. They also have the potential to cause distraction.
Take social bookmarking, for instance. Suppose you are a biology teacher who has asked students to research a variety of topics in life science—for example, stem-cell research. Let’s suppose three students have chosen this topic and are working on answering an essential question regarding the ethical considerations of this type of biological research and are doing so independently. Let’s also say that each has an account at a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us and has tagged a variety of resources about stem-cell research. Student A knowingly goes to Students B’s and C’s site, examines the tag for stemcellresearch, finds some new resources, and tags them into Student A's account at del.icio.us. Is this appropriate or a violation of academic integrity?
Many would consider this cheating and would equate the process to a situation in which one student photocopied several research articles, left them on a table, and then another student came along and took them. Yet anyone with a del.icio.us account knows that calling the actions of the above student inappropriate is absolute nonsense and that the ability to reach into another account to see resources is part of the game.
It’s. Called. A. Network. And it’s called social bookmarking for a reason, isn’t it? Many have not yet considered that information flow is in two directions. You can find it, and it can find you. In my classroom, this process would be taught, encouraged, expected, and evaluated as part of a student’s ability to ask a question of importance to them, and to develop a response.
The scenarios described above relates only to the socialbookmarking aspect of research in the digital age, just one component of a complex social system for information sharing and learning. We still have a long way to go before we understand, and negotiate systemically, what these collaborative sharing environments mean to student learning.
No wonder these tools, and the environments they create, are labeled disruptive.
by David Jakes
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