Bruffee

Bruffee believes strongly in his theory of "collaborative learning." He believes that the way to knowledge and a better understanding of things is to communicate with other people. On page 6 he states "Human thought is consummately social: social in its origins, social in its functions, social in its form, social in its applications." He believes the best way to learn is through conversation. He provides an example with the medical students diagnosing a patient. Instead of the head doctor asking each individual to diagnose the patient, she asked them to form a group diagnosis. The medical students learned quicker and easier through the group method. We also do collaborative learning in class all the time. We get into groups to discuss readings, papers, Twelfth Night, and various other assignments. Most of the time we are all working together and each bringing our own unique knowledge to the table.
I liked how Bruffee used the "blind leading the blind" argument to actually support his thesis about knowledge. If knowledge is something you can see, then it is the blind leading the blind. However, to Bruffee, knowledge is not something to be seen, it's something to be spoken or heard. It is not learned by sight but by conversation. I find it interesting that he believes collaborative learning isn't only the best way to learn, but the best way to teach. He brings in the example of the peer tutors and tutees. Both the tutor and the tutee need to bring their own specific knowledge in order to help each other. I think the whole article is fairly interesting because of the way he sees knowledge. It is better to learn in groups than to learn individually.