How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?

Do you believe that humans have a basic instinct to “interact and work as a group,” as Rheingold proposed in his discussion of the evolution of Wikipedia as a collectively developed encyclopedia? How can technology facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles?

In Rheingold's presentation at TED, he discussed the move from a survival of the fittest model of community in which competition drives business, politics, and societal choices to one of cooperation and collective action. Rheingold suggested that technologies, such as the printing press and the Internet, have enabled communities to escape social problems like the prisoner's dilemma and the tragedy of the commons by enabling them to choose not be prisoners at all. Instead, those who are able to find solutions beneficial to all parties will be able to protect individual self-interest, while also enabling others to benefit from the solutions as well. Lack of trust means no exchanges; no benefits for anyone. The ability to engage in cooperative efforts and collective actions, such as the development of Wikipedia, allow all members of such societies to benefit, that “a certain kind of sharing is in their self-interest.” Rheingold encouraged cooperative uses of technology to increase trans-disciplinary discourse, suggesting that technology greatly influences changes in cultural cooperation.

I believe that the tendency to interact and work as a group is greatly driven by self-interest. All actions are weighed on a scale of punishment and reward: pleasure vs. pain. Rheingold described the nomadic family unit, in which the family was bound together by the need to survive; together, they had a better chance of doing that. Tribal nomads who banded together to take down bigger game are not only able to survive, but were able to do so more efficiently. The scale grows but the principle does not change. In agricultural communities, larger families had a greater economy of scale. They could produce more together, leading to trading with others to the benefit of all. In the world of self-interest, there is indeed a need to balance the scales; individuals recognize the value of the hunter and the producers of wine and other valuable products. People do not like cheaters, nor do they want to feel cheated. It is not uncommon for people to recognize that it is in their self-interest to work together, that there is such a thing as a win-win scenario. They also recognize the need to punish those who do not work in the best interest of the community; hence, one of the most powerful tools of early societies was exile.

It is also natural for people to want to improve their living conditions; to work less for more. As society has grown more affluent, we have moved from the primary levels of need relating to survival and personal security to secondary levels of need have become more significant; the need to belong to a community, the need to have the respect of our peers, and the need for self-actualization are more common concerns of the members of modern society. Thus, cooperation and collective actions become significant forces in affluent cultures. As Rheingold suggested, technologies have greatly influenced our abilities to overcome the prisoner's dilemma by choosing not to remain a prisoner.

Constructivism encourages critical thinking and reasoning, the understanding and use of knowledge, self-regulation, and mindful reflection; in effect, it encourages learners to interact actively in a learning community through social negotiation and the recognition and understanding of multiple perspectives and multiple modes of learning. It also encourages ownership in the learning process, self-awareness of knowledge construction, and the use of complex and relevant learning environments. Technologies, such as the Internet, mobile devices, and asynchronous communication tools, enable learners to interact with people all over the world in solving complex real-world problems, in part by bringing the needs of some distant community to the attention of another that may be in a position to help find needed solutions. The nature of communication technologies allows people from all over the world to share ideas, resources, and critical information in ways that once could hardly be imagined. Methods of instruction like role playing, debate, and problem-based learning are increasingly possible through emerging communication technologies.

In local communities, computer technologies can enable more people to participate in a project than ever before. For example, parents, students, teachers, and administrators can share ideas and resources as never before. Individuals can work with others to protect against the greed and gluttony of pure self-interest, or as Rheingold suggested, altruistic punishment is the glue that holds a society together. Collaboration and collective actions act as preventative measures. In a world in which every desktop is a marketplace, a printing press, and broadcast station, it is increasingly difficult to hide information from those who are looking for it.