ELI 2009 Online Fall Focus Session

Net Gen students are active and prolific participants in flat-world phenomena in their personal lives: posting updates to Facebook friends scattered around the globe, playing online games with teams crossing international time zones, and collaborating on digital works bearing the imprint of multiple contributors. At the same time, the global economy demands students who can think creatively, build collectively, and adapt willingly to change. Are we fostering those skills in the classroom?

"Flattening the Classroom: Building Collaborative Learning Environments," was the 2009 ELI Online Fall Focus Session. We explored an approach to learning that engages students in the active construction of collective knowledge, empowering them to build meaning together, and challenging them to examine issues from multiple perspectives. We worked together to:

• Develop an understanding of what it means to effectively collaborate in the classroom
• Create a framework for the design of meaningful and purposeful activities in the classroom
• Reflect on the potential for social learning to promote critical thinking and spark student discussion
• Explore emerging practices for designing collaborative environments in physical spaces and virtual environments
• Consider assessment strategies for collaborative activities