Collaboration is key to success. Simple as that. When I was younger, I always hated being in groups, because for the most part I was the follower and never knew what was going on. As I got older, I became more of a leader taking hold of any group collaboration that I had to deal with, however sometimes my partners didn’t do their share. I am not sure which situation is worse. The older I become, the more I realize the importance of collaborating with peers and colleagues. Why wouldn’t we want to ask more questions or discover and experience more about the world? The more people you discuss information/ideas with, the better off one will be.

I never thought about collaboration online, until I came into ENG 307. This semester I have come to the conclusion that discussing and collaborating online is such a great tool that most teachers and students are missing out on. I know that having Ning discussions, twitter discussions and posting on each blog within our class is a way to further the our learning and knowledge to the best of its’ ability.
Online collaboration is what our world is coming to, so it is best that we know how to engage our students in such situations. The importance and the process is written in this article–http://eng307s2012.wikispaces.com/file/view/The%20process%20of%20online%20collaboration.pdf
The misconception of online collaboration deals with thinking that giving a syllabus of what the instructor wants from their students is good enough to send them off on their merry way to figure it out for themselves. This is not how it should be done. Yes, this is a learning process for students, however guidelines and a little help getting to that goal needs to be reassured by the instructor. Students are going to be resistant to the idea of collaboration unless there is an explanation. The article brings up steps to get to the final goal through–stages of collaboration–1) Set the stage, 2) Create the environment, 3) Model the process, 4) Guide the process, and then 5) Evaluate the process. The author states, “It takes planning and coordination on the part of the instructor to carry out collaborative activity successfully in an online class. Once the activity has begun, the instructor needs to stay present and involved in order to assure that the students will engage with one another in a meaningful way.” Studesnt need guidance as well as use this opportunity to take charge of their own learning!