Teacher Collaboration With Technology: Crowdsourcing in the Global Read-Aloud

• In Event: Teachers Use, Learning, and Identity of Technology

Abstract

Web 2.0 technologies afford opportunities for collaboration by educators both within and across schools. An example of this can be found in the Global Read Aloud (GRA), a teacher-organized international literacy project in which educators and students from different schools leverage digital technologies to participate in shared reading and discussion of contemporary literature. GRA teacher collaboration involves crowdsourcing, when a network of individuals combine their labor to engage in collaborative problem solving. This research used surveys (N=436) and interviews (N=21) to explore the technology-facilitated crowdsourcing associated with the GRA. Participants engaged in creating, sharing, gathering, and remixing teaching and learning materials through social media and reported benefitting from the wealth of resources crowdsourced through the GRA.

Authors

• Jeffrey P. Carpenter, Elon University

• Shea Kerkhoff, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Xiaoying Wang, University of Missouri - St. Louis