Week 3: collaboration in teams

What a great topic this was to explore - networked collaborative learning. 

Collaboration often happens in groups. We know (and maybe some of us also feel that way) that group work is often avoided. There are many reasons for it - and many of them are valid. It seems there is some kind of an assumption that when we get together, we should easily figure out how to work. When we see that we are different, we see those differences as obstacles. For example, in research on intercultural teams, studies focused on how to overcome those cultural differences and assumptions. Yet, I see little research (if any) on looking at how those differences - of opinion, of background, of gender, of cultural background, etc. - can be used for group collaboration to foster innovative thinking, better work environment, building inclusive and sustainable communities, etc. Could those differences be a resource? And how can we get to the point where we use those differences as a resource? 

Prior to the course, I had some knowledge of group work, in fact, I taught about team processes. One model that we used in one university was Tuckman and Jensen's model that suggests 5 steps in group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. It is useful for those in groups to know that there are stages, and disagreements (storming) are an integral part of those group processes. However, the model only explains the processes, and does not explain how to deal with each stage. So I have been thinking and trying to learn about an approach to collaboration that appreciates diversity and uses diversity as a resource. 

To explore this theme, I read an article on some practical advice how to create a collaborative environment for groups. It was interesting to read about differences between cooperation vs collaboration in the article by Ashkraft and Treadwell. The authors suggest that cooperation is when group members divide up tasks and then share them and put together the result. The collaborative approach is when group members each do the same work and then collaborate on achieving the same goal. 

My interpretation of cooperation is what I often see among students. For example, if students have to prepare a presentation, they find a text, divide up the pages, and each group members develops part of the presentation. Similar things happen with writing a group paper. My understanding of a collaborative approach is when the group members either read all the material and develop a presentation together, or each person is responsible for one part, but everyone contributes. I guess there are different ways to organize collaboration, but the key is working together for the large part of the project, and having some individual work. I think it is still a challenge to design team projects in a way that encourages and clarifies how to do collaborative work. 

The same article by Ashkraft and Treadwell recommends some steps in creating a collaborative environment and to avoid social loafing. For example, the number of members in a group should be no more than 6. Another recommendation is to create a system of identifiable contributions - such as creating a document where people contribute in different colours. In case of group conflicts, they recommend to give academic independence - guide students how to resolve the problems themselves, without involving the instructor. In fact, conflict management seems to be an important aspect of group work. 

In conjunction with this course, I also attended a workshop on internationalisation/diversity in education, and the workshop actually introduced "reflective teams"as a method that facilitates group work, focusing on listening, but also for brainstorming solutions. I'll describe it here as one examples how groups can resolve conflict. The guidelines are quite simple.  Participants take different roles - one is a person who shares a dillema/problem that he has (case holder), one person keeps track of time (time keeper), one person is a facilitator, and the rest are problem solvers. The main rule is that the discussion always goes in a certain order in a circular motion (member 1- member2- member 3 - member 4- member 1- member 2-etc). Members only speak when it's their turn, so if one wants to say something, he/she has to wait for the turn. The process starts with the case holder sharing the dilemma (max 3 minutes), and then each group member one by one asks questions from the case holder (10 minutes). After 10 minutes, each member then offers some reflections (making sure that they are not accusatory or demeaning). Here, the case holder is only listening. After 10 minutes, the case holder is offering some reflections. We tried this technique in the workshop and I took two valuable take-aways - the importance of listening and giving opportunities to each person to speak, and the importance of asking questions. In the first round, you had to think before offering reflections. 

There are so many things that are important for collaborative learning, so these are just some of my reflections and what I learnt. What have you found valuable and/or important in facilitating collaborative learning?