As a future educator, I am a strong believer in working with others to flush out ideas. It is so beneficial to work with others because you are able to build off each other’s ideas. I know in my future classroom, I will stress the importance of group work and creating a comfortable environment. I want the students to be comfortable to interact with their peers, but I also don’t want it to stop there. I want my students to explore, which to be honest, they are probably already doing. Due to the increase and advances in technology, our students are working as online collaborators daily. Students interact with people along social networking such as facebook, myspace, twitter, tumblr, etc. What if we take what the students are doing in their own lives and incorporate it in the classroom?

In my future classroom, I plan to emphasize the importance of Online Collaboration to my students. Online Collaboration uses the internet as a common meeting place. It is becoming more popular in the workplace too, so why not introduce our students to this kind of collaboration? The really interesting and cool thing about online collaborating is that students can interact with people all over the world, kind of like what our class is doing right now with ds106. I didn’t know this was possible, nor did I know how to use any of these tools to collaborate. After reading “The Process of Online Collaboration” I am well aware of the guidance we need to provide for our students in teaching them how to connect with others. In order for this process to be successful, the teacher should become the master learner of online collaborating and apply their understandings to teach their class. (Blog about Online Collaboration)