An interesting thing about the virtual environment is how it compels you towards collaboration as a means to understanding. I know this is simplistic, but hear me out. I spent the past several days working on a paper analyzing the marketing prowess of the New York Public Library (note – not as grand as it sounds) which involved collaborating with 3 other classmates. Each of us took a section of the assignment, did the appropriate research and posted it in a coherent manner on a shared Google document where we will edit as necessary. We communicated extensively via Gmail and made use of Elluminate. Now I know a little about marketing because I use to DJ (a lifetime ago) in the SF Gay scene and promotions/marketing was key to survival in that cut throat business. Because of this dejaying experience, I was able to contribute some expertise or ‘understanding’ to our marketing project. On the other hand, another member actually worked for the NYPL and brought a different perspective and skill set to the project. Likewise, the other group members added their expertise about marketing to the project to facilitate new understanding and to build new knowledge among the group. The experience shows students do learn more through collaboration with other students. I think as far as citing a learning paradigm for this discussion, Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development theory supports this concept by presenting a model for understanding how students/peers learn from each other or what we can do with the help of a more “capable peer”. As an aside, this marketing project was assigned as an individual assignment with the group component optional!
