Andrew, and i've already said most of this to you already, but your lessons rely on a few assumptions that cannot be proven: 1) that there's as much data online as their is from other sources, 2) that any of us are able to separate the good or useful data from the misleading or irrelevant data without consulting secondary sources, and 3) that the person implementing the method is smart enough to infer a lot from outlines which are essentially summaries of a greater wealth of knowledge. These assumptions are unverifiable and will sometimes be true, but almost certainly not always.

I believe that the benefits of collaboration can be better achieved if we all work together to put more information online, in wikis and such, instead of just working together to better understand what is already there.

Finally, I think focusing on grades at all is dangerous because of the curve. If a single person collaborates better with others, that person will likely learn more and get better grades. But, if the whole school begins to collaborate better together, then we'll all learn more, but none of us will get better grades. If collaboration is going to be the primary means, then the primary goal should be better learning and not better grades.

-- OluwafemiMorohunfola - 25 Apr 2008