We live in the 21st century with the possibility abundant digital devices and endless connectivity. In educational history, when some form of new technology appears in the public sphere, the question always asked is “How with the latest technological advances transform education?”. In my opinion, none have significantly transformed education yet. However, with the conceivable implementation of collaborative intelligence being linked to the integration of technology, we could possibly see some type of transformation in education.

Markova & McArthur (2015) define collaborative intelligence (CQ) as the ability to work and think collectively with a common goal in mind. In terms of education, collaborative intelligence shifts the focus from a simple, individualistic knowledge making process to a complex process of interaction, negotiation and collaboration (Cope & Kalantzis, 2021b). The most appropriate path to developing the collaborative skills would be through formal and informal educational practices (Montebello et al, 2018). How will collaborative intelligence transform education?

Traditional education creates an individualistic paradigm in which students acquire knowledge through memorization and apply it to obtain an anticipated solution (Montebello et al, 2018). On the other hand, collaborative intelligence transforms the education paradigm. It promotes collaborative work by creating a “community of practice” and the eventual product is work of a higher standard and clearly exhibits a deeper level of understanding. This is due to the fact that the members of the group will pressurize each other by setting higher standards and support each other through constructive feedback. This also provides the group with a sense of collective achievement and empowerment. Once more, this transforms education from a teacher-to-student to a peer-to-peer learning process (Cope & Kalantzis, 2017).

Another aspect of the transformation is the construction of a sense of community amongst the students which transforms the source(s) of motivation for students. Most schools provide institutional rewards which are the grades that students receive. That gives these rewards an extrinsic dimension. On the other hand, collaborative intelligence thus produces a “collective intrinsic motivation” within the group (Cope & Kalantzis, 2021a).

Finally, collaborative intelligence transforms education towards developing the ability to deal with different sources of knowledge, develop the skills of intellectual collaboration and the ability to use the knowledge tools available to them (Cope & Kalantzis, 2017). So, there is a significant shift away from memorization to 21st century skills development.

In conclusion, with my naïve utopian mindset maybe collaborative intelligence could solve humanity’s greatest problems. I foresee a world in which Harvard students, Oxford students and a Beijing Normal University students collaborative solve the problem of cancer, virus infections and climate change problems.

References

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). (2017). E-learning ecologies: Principles for new learning and assessment. London, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2021a). Video: Collaborative Intelligence, Part 5C: Extrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. https://www.coursera.org/learn/elearning/lecture/w2mvE/collaborative-intelligence-part-5c-extrinsic-and-extrinsic-motivation

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2021b). Video: Collaborative Intelligence, Part 5A: Social Learning. https://www.coursera.org/learn/elearning/lecture/CoWOQ/collaborative-intelligence-part-5a-social-learning

Markova, D. & McArthur, A. (2015). Collaborative intelligence: Thinking with people who think differently. Penguin Random House Publishers.

Montebello, M., Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. and Amina, T. (2018). Deepening e-Learning through Social-Collaborative Intelligence. DOI: 10.1109/FIE.2018.8658779.