One would think the National Center for Educational Statistics would be a good source for current information about technology use in K-12 education. Try a search at this site for “computer” or “technology” and the most recent studies are dated 2003 and are based on data collected in 2001.
So much for “evidence based” decision making.
We are in the process of revising “Integrating Technology …” for the purpose of releasing the 5th edition. In preparation for the revision, a number of faculty members are contacted and paid to offer comments on our existing book. The idea is to use this input to guide our work. It is a great concept in theory. In practice, we find that reviewers have a wide range of suggestions and many recommendations are contradicatory. Some want us to add material on distance education and some want us to cut back the material on Internet applications. Some want us to take out the “learning chapter” to save space and others say it is one of the most valuable chapters in the book. People have different personal priorities and work in situations making salient different issues.
An example – one reviewer noted that we were incorrectly using the terms collaborative and cooperative learning interchangeably. I admit that this is true. In an attempt to remediate my own ignorance, I googled “collaborative versus cooperative learning” to gain a sense of how important this issue is. Sure enough, several documents surfaced explaining the difference.
It appears that cooperative learning is intended to be more restrictive in meaning and applied to instructor designed tasks that ask students to work together in specified ways.
In contrast, collaborative learning emphasizes the group work which may involve sharing of responsibility and direction (e.g., a study group, on-line open forums).
Potentially, we should more carefully use the term cooperative learning when discussing group projects (typically following a structure specified by the teacher) and collaboration when discussing some of the naturally evolving benefits of discussion. When you write a book that is used by teachers early in their college education and also by graduate students, attention to terminology can be an issue. Perhaps the solution is for us to be more careful in how we use the words, but not take up space by explaining the nuances some note among the terms.
By the way, most documents we found on this topic point back to a document by (Pavitz).