Collective Intelligence Activity

I contributed to the Collective Intelligence activity daily and I enjoyed seeing what my peers were contributing. I liked that this group activity was completely online and that we could contribute to it from any device if we needed to. I found myself drawn mostly to quotes, and images with quotes, so that is what I posted primarily. So it was nice to see other students sharing links to videos, word clouds, web pages, etc. A nice variety of information that helps to define, "What is Education?" was shared by all. 

I do think I could use an activity like this in the classroom. As an art teacher, I frequently have done an activity where my students had to explain, "What is Art?" I've done this activity with various grade levels, having students work either in pairs or in teams. They would work together to collect information and then create a presentation to share with the rest of the class what they considered 'Art' to be. I have never done that activity to include a group document, such as we did this week.

If I were to do this with art students, I think it would be a great way for all the students in the class to contribute for a number of days. Then they could still work in teams or in pairs and use the collective intelligence gathered to create their presentations. They could then add some additional technology for the purpose of sharing their information, perhaps using Prezi or PowToon to create a visual presentation for the whole class. 

This kind of activity ties in with what Bullock said about social interactions being used "to produce, co-operate, and collaborate" in ways that weren't really possible before. Students could work together in the past, but they usually had to be in the same room to do so. In an online format like this, students could technically be anywhere in the world and still be working together on a project or assignment. Wouldn't it be fun to coordinate with a teacher on the other side of the world to do a collaborative activity between classrooms? I think it would be.

Additionally, as Ilon says, a collective intelligence activity such as this would allow information to flow, change, and adapt as it's collected. Students can be acquiring new perspectives and bits of information all the time, which can change the way they look at a subject and give it new meaning. Whereas if they were working alone, they might focus on a single viewpoint and be limited in what they know and learn by that singularity of focus. 

I also think that this type of activity could be included as part of a PLE, allowing students to self-direct in looking for sources of information. And this would be a good way for them to learn how to sharpen their skills in "information fluency," so that they can better learn to differentiate fact from opinion when using a variety of sources.