You ever buy a car, without taking it for a test drive? Most people will say “No.” There is a reason you test drive a car. You have to find out, for yourself, if that car is right for you.
I am not going to buy a car, based on a review I read. I’m going to want to take that car out, go for a ride. I need to see if that car is right for me.
So, what’s my point? (I do have one!)
We all have different styles, we all prefer different things. My last car was a yellow Jeep Wrangler. (Man, I miss her!) But, I’m single, with no kids, and I lived at the beach. It was the perfect car for me. It’s not the right type of car if you have a wife and 2 kids. It’s not practical.
If I were to write a review about my Jeep, it would be a filled with wonderful adjectives. However, if a 40 year old mother of 3, living in Nebraska, were to write a review of the same exact car, it would be completely different. Same car. Two different opinions.
Now, let’s apply this same concept to collaborative online projects. Let’s apply this to creating a truly global classroom. It’s one thing to read about it. The idea seems wonderful. Doesn’t it? Connecting students across the globe.
Yet, I’m in a school with 1:1 technology, and I haven’t seen anything like what Apple was showing me on the commercials. I haven’t had my kids waving to kids in China. Or Thailand. Or Vietnam. Or France. Or the US.
Why? Well, because all we’ve done is read the reviews. We haven’t taken it out for a test drive. We aren’t sure exactly how to do it. We aren’t sure if it’s really for us.
So, I’m asking the COETAIL community for help. Let’s go for a test drive. Together.
If we never try something new, we will never change. That’s a fact of life.
So, I signed up for to join a Online Collaborative Project. It seems easy enough. Sadly, I was only the second school to join outside of the US. (The other is Argentina) So, here I am, trying to take baby steps into creating a truly global classroom.
Here’s what I ask of you. Click on this link, and take a look. It’s a simple project put together by the CIESE (The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education
- Stevens Institute of Technology) Collaborative Projects team.
The premise of the program is simple.
Square of Life: Studies in Local and Global Environments is an Internet-based collaborative project in which students will investigate their local environment and share that information with other students from around the country and the world.
One thing I know, for sure about me. Not everything I have tried works. That’s important to realize before you try anything. Some things just don’t work for certain people. That’s ok.
That’s what test drives are for.
