So much better together

Halfway through the cMooc Open networked learning, the topic of the week has been collaborative learning, the learning potential in peer interaction and group based problem solving. The group I am part of feels more and more as a group, even though we haven't met IRL and we are spread across both the northern and southern hemisphere.

Het vrolijke huisgezin, Jan Havicksz. Steen, 1668. Public domain. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 
Perhaps no organised learning going on, but the picture could symbolise the joy of togetherness.

One question posted at the beginning of the week was: 

Is there a recipe for making collaborative work a fruitful experience?

In our group we began by using a shared google document for brainstorming ideas on collaborative learning. 

It became clear that everybody had experienced problems with group work previously. But at the same time there was a flow of constructive strategies on how to overcome the problems and successfully arrange for online groups to function and bring about learning experiences.
So, yes, there are many different recipes to turn collaborative work into engaging, creative, challenging and fruitful learning experiences.

In the Theory and practise of online learning Andersson discusses how to find appropriate theoretical frameworks for the development of online courses, as traditional learning theories where written prior to the internet and connected world, and therefore have not taken their potential for learning into account (2008).
Anderson proposes that teachers search for a balance of both traditional learning theories, selectively combined with recent theories that are written taking the internet and its interconnecting possibilities into account.
Two different directions when planning for online learning are mentioned: the community of learning model, where synchronous meetings and peer-to-peer and peer-teacher communication is emphasised, and the independent study model which more corresponds to supporting an individual learner by designing a course that provides well-structured content (Anderson: 2008)

Hopefully educators across the world are becoming more aware of the value of collaborative learning, and that it is worth the effort for the teacher to counteract common pitfalls in collaborative group tasks.
I also think that the old traditional type of teaching and learning, where a single student reads and memorises facts in isolation, is much more of a matter of the head. At least for me, it seems to generate knowledge for my intellect only, whereas group learning engages the whole of me and the knowledge gained becomes a part of me, how I think and who I am much much more... (see J. Bruner, american developmental psychologist who emphasised the cultural importance of knowledge, and saw learning as taking part of cultural exchange in society, in for example Acts of mearning: 1990)

References
Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In The theory and practice of online learning (pp. 343-395). Athabasca university press. 
Bruner, J, (1990) Acts of mearning. Harvard University Press