I was introduced to the term “hive” this week, in the context of solving a business problem by consulting the “hive wisdom”. I think the terms “hive thinking” and “hive learning” make sense in a classroom and I decided to try and facilitate some hive learning (for a Year 10 class) via the Google Classroom Ask facility. The question posed was “If you have a problem with your HTML… how might you go about solving the problem?” I then asked students to either seek clarification or indicate which answer was the most helpful. one example below…
Overall it was a pretty useful exercise. Answers ranged from use F12 to examine the script to accessing W3C schools web site. One student even promoted “formally giving up “. I was pleased to see one option from last year was not mentioned… Cry
I found this to be both an efficient and effective result. Any problem-solving techniques the students did not identify I could solicit from them. Any problem-solving techniques I have not encountered previously I could share with future students. (Ako ie reciprocal learning in action!)
Some other points of interest:
- How students represent themselves online (avatars/images).
- Exposing their thoughts to others ie all students see all answers once they have answered the question themselves. The classroom culture has to be consistent with this approach ie students feel safe answering this type of question publicly.
- Path of least resistance… no real critique of answers (the environment may not be conducive to this – yet).
- You cannot be a spelling/grammar checker.