1. Collaboration and
Collective Intelligence
by Kathy Mahanes
NH Tech Leader Cohort

2. Goals and Tasks
• The goal of this presentation is to inform and
persuade teachers of the power of collective
intelligence.
• A secondary goal is for teachers to experience
the collective intelligence of some internet
tools and resources.

3. Collective Intelligence
• The ability to pool knowledge and compare notes
with others toward a common goal.
This involves having a group of individuals with
different skills and knowledge come together to
solve a problem or work toward a common goal.
NML definition

4. Collaboration
• The act of working together with one or more
people in order to achieve something.
• These students are working together to solve
a math problem.

5. What is a wiki?
• Wikis are online examples of collective
intelligence. Here is an explanation of what a
wiki is and how it works.
• http://www.teachertube.com/members/view
Video.php?video_id=20514&title=Wikis_In_Pl
ain_English

6. Wikipedia
• Wikipedia is an example of an online resource
where anyone can add to the collective
intelligence of the group of users.
• What are the problems with using Wikipedia with
your students?
• How does Wikipedia address the problems
associated with allowing all users to edit or revise
content?
• Visit www.wikipedia.org with a partner to
explore this online resource. Find out how
wikipedia treats incoming revisions to validate
and substantiate the information posted.

7. Collective Intelligence
• Is the “power of many”
real? Can we prove
collective intelligence is
real?
• A group of 6th grade
students sought to prove
the power of “we”.
http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewV
ideo.php?video_id=69367&title=Gumballs_an
d_Collective_Intelligence

8. Project Results
George Haines and his 6th grade students were learning how to use
digital media to access large numbers of people. They were learning
about “crowdsourcing”.
George Haines’s students learned that the collective answer of the
“crowd” is more accurate than the individual’s. There were 405 guesses.
There were 337 gumballs in the container. The average guess of the
crowd was 264.6. The crowd was more accurate than 75% of the
individuals.
The students determined that the larger the crowd, the more likely it was
to be more accurate than the individual.

9. Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
The lifelines in the game
show “Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire” are another
example where the
collective intelligence of
the “crowd” can be a
definite advantage.

10. Other Examples of Collective
Intelligence ?
• Polling
• “Dancing With the Stars”
• Political Elections

11. Classroom Examples
• Think of examples from your own classroom
where collective intelligence and collaboration
is used with and without technology. Share
them.
• How does collective intelligence enhance or
facilitate the learning in your classroom?