collaboration spruce together

Carolina Lateral Entry Developing Community for Effective Collaboration

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Why Collaborate?

Promotes deeper levels of knowledge Promotes initiative, creativity and development of

critical thinking skills Promotes Co-creation of knowledge Promotes Reflection


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Building Community: Why do students need a sense of community?

A sense of community must exist for collaboration to occur Students need to feel comfortable with one another in order to openly

and honestly exchange ideas, give and receive feedback, and participate in effective discussions.

Students are more engaged and less likely to drop out or lose focus if they are connected to the group and have a sense of community.

Students feel less isolated when there is a sense of community. Common goals are more likely to be achieved because the students have built relationships with one another through interaction and participation.

Students generage better decisions, better ideas, and better solutions.


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Elements of Community

All the people involved Shared purpose

Sharing information, experiences, interests, resources

Guidelines Structure of the course, ground rules for participation and interaction

Technology or Meeting Places Collaborative Learning

Student-to-student interaction

Reflection To reinforce and transform the learning


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Why Do People Need to Learn to Work Together?The workplace requires many different types of people to work together to accomplish a task. It is critical for an individual to be able to collaborate in a variety of ways to effectively meet the needs of an organization. The benefits of working together include: The more people involved, the more information, solutions, and

strategies that can be considered. Innovated results are created though quick and creative thinking. Idea sharing by a group leads to unique solutions and effective plans

for action. Troubleshooting issues is less stressful because several members of

the group can carry the weight of problem solving and work together to address.

High levels of learning take place when people come together to share skills, knowledge and experiences.


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Groups That Work Well—A Vision of a Functional Group

The team was asked to create a publicity campaign for a company. There was a research paper that had to be completed with 5 different sections including research, publications, introduction, conclusion, and a radio ad. Each member had specific skillsets to accomplish the various tasks. For example, the business education teacher created a brochure and flyer. A former public relations assistant created the introduction and conclusion making sure all parts fit together and made sense. All of the members were able to make a unique contribution. Communication was key when submitting the various parts. Email, Skype, phone calls and meetings after class helped everyone stay on track and in the loop.

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Groups That Don’t Work—A Nightmare of Dysfunction

The Minority Achievement program is a great club with many bright students. However the collaboration process has not matured at this stage (high school). Most of the students have a difficult time managing their time. The communication is not effective because they don’t show up for all of the meetings, they don’t check email, they don’t listen to the announcements for updates, and it is difficult for them to stay on track during meetings. While a lot of the efforts are intended to be created and managed by the group, the advisor has to do most (if not all) of the coordination, understanding that this is a learning process for the students and remembering to model good collaboration skills in the midst of a group project that needs a lot of work.

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What Works?

Varied skillsets and skill levelsCommon goal to achieveRoles assignedClear expectationsTimelines indicating benchmarks, updates and deadlinesCommunicationA group with these traits works well because the individuals in the group were able to utilize each other’s strengths to come up with effective outcomes.

Analysis of Functional & Dysfunctional Groups

What Does Not Work?

Unclear expectations set early in the taskConflicting schedules and the inability to communicate regularlyLack of role assignmentToo many leaders, no one willing to follow and vice versa.


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Stages of Group Development

Forming: when groups get to know one another Norming: when groups figure out how to work together Storming: Problem-solving where there will be

disagreement and/or conflict Disagreements are crucial to the learning environment. When

people bring new ideas to the table, it allows for the group to explore new ground and build upon ideas, making the original product more dynamic.

Performing: when groups work to complete the task Adjourning: when groups end the work and disband or

regroup for other tasks


What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor?

Set the Stage Give clear expectations for working in groups in syllabus Provide rubrics for any aspect of the project that will be graded Allow time for group members to become more familiar with one

another

Create the environment Allow students time to get to know one another through ice

breakers Create a friendly environment and tone by sending positive

messages to students Be clear and firm in instructions so that students can refer to

original learning goals throughout the project Be available for questions and feedback

11More points on the next slide.


What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor? (continued)

Model the process Create a welcome message for the class and be consistent with communication Provide a model learning group agreement that students can use as a springboard for their

own group Jump in to answer questions and solve problems when needed, but allow groups to work out

most problems themselves

Guide the process Make discussion boards visible to both the group and the instructor so that you can monitor

communication Send announcements and reminder emails about due dates and expectations Be available to give feedback and answer questions as the project progresses Watch over the groups, but do not control them. Instead, allow them to self-regulate and

figure out the best way for them to work together and contribute equally. Allow students to communicate, but be aware of negative language or students who are not

doing their share

12More points on the next slide.


What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor? (continued)

Evaluate the process Use a rubric that outlines the expectations for group work and

follow along as groups collaborate Grade the project on a rubric that outlines the criteria for the

content of the project.

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Successful CollaborationHow we, as facilitators, can enhance the process:

Offer varied and new 2.0 tools for collaboration (Google Docs/Apps, wiki-style pages, mind-mapping, voice thread, today’s meet, Moodle, etc.);

Being part of the collaborative learning through discourse with participants;

Being flexible in how the content’s direction may be shaped by the students;

Offering feedback and suggestions to participants; Modeling components of what students are expected to do Being receptive to feedback from participants throughout the course Encourage inquiry among participants and between participant and

facilitator,


Works Cited

Clip art from Microsoft Title page image created on Wordle.com; text

extracted came from the following source:

Tinzmann, M. B., B. F. Jones, T. F. Fennimore, C. Fine, and J. Pierce. "The Collaborative Classroom." Arp ISD Index. NCREL, 1990. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://www.arp.sprnet.org/admin/supt/collab2.htm>.

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collaboration spruce together

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