On page 646 of Bruffee's essay he says "Isn't collaborative learning the blind just leading the blind?" Which is interesting because he talks about the students trying to enter these "knowledge communities" with the help of other that aren't in the communities. While is quote may have some truth in it i do not believe that it pointless.
Later he says " We establish knowledge or justify belief collaboratively by challenging each other's biases and presuppositions." I seem to agree with that more because I feel that when i am in a group I gain valuable feedback from other members. To have second opinions about ideas is a valuable resource.
Nice work on the blog, Brendan. I see you're taking advantage of the "labels" feature. Great. I think that will prove useful for you down the road.
ReplyDeleteThe "blind leading the blind" comment is Bruffee's way of posing a rhetorical question. He's basically anticipating the objection of a resisting reader. Note that he says collaborative learning is the blind leading the blind "if we insist on a Cartesian model of knowledge."
We'll deal with this matter in class today, but here are two links that may be useful:
One long but authoritative, from the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/
The second one is less substantive but perhaps a bit more fun for its tongue- in-cheek tone. I've posted the link on my blog:
http://frankswritingcourse.blogspot.com/