Asnwering to: What is collective intelligence? What are the processes and benefits of collaborative learning? Illustrate with an example.

Collective intelligence (CI), as explained in the following link, is how well an individual can acquire knowledge from external sources, such as digital tools and books that contain the knowledge required, share it with their peers, elaborate on the received feedback and then comment on the other peers’ work to and bring about the improvement of the whole group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrutN3Ofs4M&ab_channel=EducationatIllinois

Collaborative Learning (CL) can be found in many pockets of society where individuals come together for a defined reason, such as solving a problem, improving the status quo, research and sharing information. An individual who might not know aspects of a subject can learn just by participating in the conversation with peers and masters alike. The Scientific community shares and gives feedback regularly to improve and disprove theories and hypothesis. As written on the USGS site “It [Data sharing] encourages more connection and collaboration between scientists, and better science leads to better decision-making.” https://www.usgs.gov/data-management/why-share-your-data

In the classroom, CL and CI is found in activities where the students do pair or group work and explore, practice and expand on a question given by the teacher who is present only to aid if necessary. The Montessori and Reggio Emilia approach for early pre-prep school and The Waldorf-Steiner educational philosophy are examples of pedagogical philosophies which have collaborative learning and environment exploration at the center of their curriculum. https://www.ourkids.net/school/montessori-vs-waldorf-reggio-emilia

In the workplace or daily problem solving, brainstorming sessions and pitch meetings are the equivalent to CL process and using CI. Adding newcomers to a committee with different backgrounds, sex and ethnicity to the decision-making process has been proven to enrich the collaborative learning and produce more desirable outcomes by bringing new perspectives to a solution that the committee. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167208328062

In policy making, the failure to listening to feedback from the population or the international community, a collaborative and collective effort, has detrimental effects on society as a whole, as described by James Paul Glee after minute 19:20 of the source video: https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-6/supporting-material/gee-on-situated-cognition

In conclusion, as said by J.P. Glee in the above cited video: “Schools should be about how to respect the world, and that is partly how to respect evidence […]”. Reforming curriculums and classroom to allow space for collaborative learning activities and improving collective intelligence would be a powerful tool to help future adults face an evermore complex and interconnected future.