Collaboration 2.0- Do We really Educate Better 2gether?

As teachers and lifelong learners of the 21st century, we are all aware of the importance of meaningful teacher collaboration. It’s essential for us to work together to improve the curriculum, make connections between the subjects and the world, deepen the understanding of being a teacher, share knowledge and experience and also; learn and grow together.

There are a lot to benefit from the teacher collaboration. It helps to incorporate new teaching strategies, improve and spread  teaching skills, team-work abilities, gain confidence in your knowledge, skills and abilities; respect for others, have the opportunity to share ideas, valuable resources and get feedback, increase enthusiasm and it can even bring career rewards and I think the most importantly, there is a positive relationship between the teacher collaboration and student success.

With all the growing technology, new tools have arrived. It has changed the way we collaborate and made collaboration speed up and simple. Today; most of us agree that  digital collaboration  among  teachers is becoming increasingly important. Blogs, wikis, twitter, ning, Second Life, conferencing & chat tools and all other social networking sites now successfully can bring teachers 2gether to share knowledge and learn from each other. It has become very easy to collaborate  with educators all around the world. Having a blog, writing on forums, taking online courses, becoming a member of a social network such as Twitter, Ning or a wiki have created new platforms to collaborate, generate awareness on different methods of teaching and share knowledge with other teachers from all over the world.

But; do we collaborate the same way with our colleagues as we collaborate with other networked educators from different countries?

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to answer this question with a ‘Yes!!’ Still, there are a lot of teachers around me who don’t believe the importance and the benefits of using technology and Web 2.0 tools and for worse, thinking that technology is just a waste of time and a threat.

To be able to change it, schools and the principles should provide teachers with TIME, training, technical and follow up assistance  and the access to technology;  to use and integrate existing technologies into their teaching and as a part of their collaboration with their colleagues and life-long learning. Teachers should be motivated and encouraged to use IT skills and create their own PLN, e-portfolios and experience becoming a member of a social network and see the benefits of using 21st century skills.

Till I see my colleagues tweeting, blogging, exchanging information and teaching each other online, I don’t think we are really educating better 2gether. I hope these days are very close.