Collaboration in the present is unlike what might be typically construed as collaboration of the past (even a few years ago). When we look at education as a whole, are we collaborating as we would have in the past or using the tools of the present to embrace the future?
Here are a few points of comparison that I started, feel free to add your own.
|
Past |
Present |
| Collaborating locally with a Team, Department, Committee or Family. | Mass collaboration with loosely joined nodes creating innovations that could not have been created in the past (Wikipedia) without nationalization or internationalization of a cause. (War, Environmental Catastrophe) |
| Send emails, leave messages in mailboxes, or snail mail. | Collaborative documents – Shared Documents (Google Docs), Real Time Shared Applications (Zoho Notebook) or wikis. |
| Leave phone messages. | Instant messaging and/or Microblogging |
| School districts holding tightly to intellectual capital through. | Open licenses that encourage redevelopment of intellectual capital like Creative Commons or Freedom-Driven licensing. |
| Network of tightly controlled memberships. | Many social networks that are open to any other member joining. |
| Face to Face meetings. | Face two face meetings, mixed with video/web conferencing, skypecasts or whatever works. |
| Top down mentality of superiority. | Peer equality and co-creation. |

