Last week I wasn't entirely sure what a Wiki was. This week I spent an hour (or so) contributing to one!!! What next?? As I moved my way down the hats I could definitely sense my thinking become more critical. Each hat required a different argument from me and as we see most things from only one perspective, it took my thinking to higher level. I believe this task encompassed all of the learning theories in some way. It was behaviourist in that I took a series of steps to complete the task. I think it was a little cognitive, or at least it felt that way, as it seemed like all of the processes of the brain were in action at the time. Each hat required me to think more broadly and more complexly about the topic at hand. It was mostly constructivist because I used my experience to come up with most of my ideas and opinions. Lastly, it was definitely connectivist because I was part of an on line discussion about mobile phones in classrooms. I was able to connect with the other student's contributions which helped me to gauge my own opinions.
I can see lots of benefits to this kind of activity. I recognised Bloom's taxonomy here as the scaffolding process used to increase our levels of thought and reflection. De Bono's six thinking hats provided a collaborative platform from which us, as students, could give our opinions based on experience, research and critical thought while sharing these perspectives with all of our class members. This provides the opportunity to gauge one' s own contribution to someone elses and provides a sense of common goal reaching for everyone. Mostly, it makes you feel like you are contributing to a worthwhile discussion as a member of a group. A wiki is ideal as a collaborative learning tool and provides yet another collaborative opportunity to create a sense of belonging for both internal and external students alike.
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