The study of cognition attempts to explore the underlying mechanisms of phenomena such as learning, information processing, attention, memory, language production and more (Anderson, 2013). Traditionally, cognition is viewed as an attribute of the single mind. However, a different approach seems to be on the rise. Inspired by both advancements in the field of artificial intelligence and the growing connectivity facilitated by the World Wide Web, more attention is given to the view that cognition situated within the individual mind is merely an instance of what can be perceived as cognition (Heylighen, Heath, & Van, 2004; Theiner, Allen, & Goldstone, 2010).

This movement towards a wider perception of cognition includes concepts such as distributed cognition, extended mind, group cognition, group mind and others (Theiner & O’Connor, 2010). Some of the literature in the field emphasizes the incorporation of devices and technologies within perceived cognitive systems (Clark, 2003; Clark & Chalmers, 1998). Another portion of the literature emphasizes cognition as a group level phenomenon, which can (but does not necessarily) rely on facilitating technologies (Akkerman et al., 2007; Heylighen et al., 2004; Lewis & Herndon, 2015; Stahl, 2005, 2006; Theiner & O’Connor, 2010; Theiner & Sutton, 2014; Wegner, 1986). The key notion behind group cognition and group mind theories, is that the group as a whole functions as a cognitive unit, and possesses capabilities associated with cognition such as remembering, learning, processing information, formulating knowledge and more. These group capabilities are neither a sum of the individual cognitive units (people) which they are composed of, nor can they be traced to single individuals within the group. Following this definition of group cognition, an example for a product generated by group cognition is Wikipedia. As a knowledgebase, it is constructed in an iterative process of writing and rewriting, adding and subtracting, fine tuning and nuancing by thousands of people. Wikipedia can be viewed as the product of a shared cognitive effort to formulate collective knowledge and memory. The content of Wikipedia a is neither the sum of the knowledge of its individual contributors, nor resides within any particular individual taking part in the process.

Group learning processes and assessment in the educational system

Despite the rising of these ideas and practices, that are gaining more and more attention outside of schools, within the school systems educational assessment is still largely held at the individual level. As mentioned by Prof Kope , this type of assessment is directed at selection: grades are perceived as a means of selection (for higher education institutions, for better schools , good jobs, etc). Being such, they have to create differentiation between learners, which is why the bell curve is perceived as an ideal grade curve. However, since the way assessment is conducted sets the tone for the kind of educational processes that will happen (or not), using the same system for evaluation of learning and for selection creates a problem. Students have an incentive to excel at the specific type of tasks they are evaluated on, and this often clashes with actual learning. It's time to question whether the coupling between evaluation and selection is doing the educational system right. Moreover, perhaps we should be coming up types of assessment, that will be better at capturing learning processes at a group level. Perhaps these could eventually also serve as more relevant selection tools for today's world.

Wikipedia Education Collaborative Meeting in Yerevan 2017 47.jpg
, By David Saroyan (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Akkerman, S., Van den Bossche, P., Admiraal, W., Gijselaers, W., Segers, M., Simons, R. J., & Kirschner, P. (2007). Reconsidering group cognition: From conceptual confusion to a boundary area between cognitive and socio-cultural perspectives? Educational Research Review, 2(1), 39–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2007.02.001

Anderson, J. R. (Carnegie M. U. (2013). Cognitive Psychology and its Implications. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (Vol. 53). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Clark, A. (2003). Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence. Oxford University Press. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/cjs.2004.0038

Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19.

Heylighen, F., Heath, M., & Van, F. (2004). The Emergence of Distributed Cognition: a conceptual framework. Proceedings of Collective Intentionality IV, IV(January), 20. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.201.9282%5Cnhttp://www.citeulike.org/group/1702/article/1632918

Lewis, K., & Herndon, B. (2011). Transactive Memory Systems : Current Issues and Future Research Directions. Organization Science, 22(5), 1254–1265. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.0647

Stahl, G. (2005). Group cognition in computer-assisted collaborative learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21(2), 79–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2005.00115.x

Stahl, G. (2006). Group Cognition. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.3115/1149293.1149376

Theiner, G., Allen, C., & Goldstone, R. L. (2010). Recognizing group cognition. Cognitive Systems Research, 11(4), 378–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.07.002

Theiner, G., & O’Connor, T. (2010). The emergence of group cognition. (Vol. 37, pp. 277–278). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13003051

Theiner, G., & Sutton, J. (2014). The collaborative emergence of group cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(3), 277–278. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13003051

Wegner, D. M. (1986). Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind. Theories of Group Behavior. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4634-3_9