I am inclined to believe the at 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. Rheingold gave several examples that just made common sense. These examples included the hunting of large game shared, keeping track of accounting data, the invention of the printing press, and eventually the invention of the internet. All of these points in history included one common thread and that was communication. Communication is necessary for these points to have taken place. Having the ability to communicate allows people to interact as a group.
Technology is able facilitate collaboration among learners based on constructivist principles. One Constructivist principle states that “Knowledge is individually constructed and socially co-constructed by learners based on their interpretation of experiences in the world” (Jonassen, 1999). Since social skills and experience is necessary and essential to constructivism, collaboration can be used in settings such as problem based learning, simulation-based learning and even case-based learning too.
Levine supports the collaboration is an effective tool for learning. Wikis and other resources can be used to collaborate among students as well as teachers. The out come is achieved by the reinforcement from teachers and the constant open line of communication that is generated through the use of various tools.
References
Jonassen, D. H. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments.
Instructional design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory,
Volume II, pp. 215-239. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved from
http://iteach.saintleo.edu/InstructionalDesign/CLEsJonassen.html
Levine, T. H. (2010). Tools for the Study and Design of Collaborative
TeacherLearning: The Affordances of Different Conceptions of Teacher Community and
Activity Theory. Teacher Education Quarterly, 37(1), 109-130. Retrieved from
EBSCOhost.
sandracjohnson 
Posted by sandracjohnson on July 12, 2011 at 3:10 am
I posted on Jeriann King’s blog @ http://jeriannking.blogspot.com/2011/07/module-3-constructivism.html?showComment=1310440131948#c7422057473432600379
Posted by Candice Jones on July 12, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Sandra
You make a very good point about communication and its importance in collaboration. I too agree that humans are social beings and we work best together as a group, whether we are hunting food, farming, or working on the Human Genome Project, collaboration helps us to develop new innovations which make our lives more enriched and effective communication fuels the fires.
Posted by Candice Jones on July 12, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Sandra
You make a very good point about communication. Collaboration would not be possible without effective communication. Humans are social animals and we work best together. Whether we are hunting, farming, or working on the Human Genome Project, collaboration is key and effective communication unlocks the lock of human achievement and innovation.
Posted by Aderonke on July 12, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Collaboration is a critical feature in problem based learning and other types of learning based on constructivist principle. Collaboration is essential for the resolution of problems. As human, if we do not interact and cooperate, our community cannot develop, and be a better place. The advent of technology has added value to the outcome of collaboration, and the effective use of technology has facilitated collaboration and created a global learning environment. The development of wikis, blogs, web conferencing, instant messenger, co-authoring, and several other technology tools has turned around the world.
Posted by sandracjohnson on July 13, 2011 at 6:06 am
I posted on Candice Jones’ blog @ http://crjoneswaldenu.blogspot.com/2011/07/educ-8845-2-module-three-online.html?showComment=1310537073534#c3171584324515302209 on July 13, 2011.
Posted by Marion Bush on July 14, 2011 at 2:02 am
Sandra,
I enjoyed reading your post. I also think that there had to have some form of communication with people going back ages ago. We could not have gotten to the place that we are today if people never interacted and communicated with each other. People had to work, communicate and interact together in order to come up with the various types of technology software for collaborating.
Marion Bush