Learning Collaborative Skills

Information age workers will need skills based on multimedia collaboration in a lifelong learning context.

While face-to-face human contact will always be the preferred method of learning, distance learning holds the potential to dramatically increase the degree of human contact and co-learning beyond what is possible today with busy time schedules and tight economics.

Central to any online collaboration is the ability to discuss issues online. This lesson focuses on ideas and techniques to facilitate an online discussion. Remember, the importance of discussion depends on the nature of the lesson. For example, a lesson on how to email may not lend itself to any kind of discussion. On the other hand, a lesson on how to incorporate a telecollaborative activity into a classroom with only one computer might well be enhanced by a spirited discussion.

Most communication on the Net is formless. There is very little true collaboration. We need structures to make the most of the potential provided by telecommunications. This and the next lesson attempts to provide examples of structures that might be applied in various situations.