Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Connected, Collaborative and Unique.
What is collaboration?
I think people tend to confuse sharing and co-ordination with collaboration. Collaboration involves interdependence ie not following a leader that directs the flock but all equally working towards a common goal, endpoint, result or product.
Collaboration can seem abstract and esoteric if it is not attached to a context. Anastasia Gouseti in Digital Technologies for School Collaboration http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781137375735
cites an example of collaborative literacy "the skill to work jointly with others either face-to-face or online to create or produce something. It involves feedback & guidance, editing the work of others & disseminating the content to a broader public" (Gouseti, 2014, p167). She cites Selwyn et al (2008) "Collaborations need to be orchestrated if they are to be more than mere coordinations" (p.171).
Studies have highlighted the role of teachers in modelling & facilitating collaborative practices. This needs to be the role of facilitators working with leaders and teachers in the new Communities of Learning (CoLs). But do the facilitators have the behaviours and understandings required to carry out this role?
True collaboration is not a routine process. It involves a shared need or motivation and requires the meaningful participation of all those involved (Gouseti, 2014, p.157). The meaning of collaboration may need to be negotiated with each new group as each CoL will have different beliefs, values and cultural norms that still need to be integrated, with permission, into the CoL to which they belong. We may be moving away from the competition of "Tomorrow's Schools" but we still need to retain our uniqueness.
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The notion of interdependence resonates with me as we see a lot of group efforts in all walks of life described as collaboration projects when in reality they are either happy alliances that support the status quo or situations where a leader dominates the thinking and the direction of the any accompanying actions.
ReplyDeleteKatz, Earl & Jafar (2009) support the need for interdependence within collaborative groups by stating “”Diversity of opinion” means understanding that what makes strong groups is that the range of options on which they might draw for decision making, problem solving, or capacity building is increased. “Interdependence” under scores the notion that a range of options will only exist if pressure for conformity is relaxed and everyone is free and comfortable to express different and or unpopular opinions. (pg. 8).”
With all members of a collaborative group contributing actively to the thinking there is considerably less chance of group efforts degenerating into diffused responsibility, social loafing or group think.
Reference: Building & Connecting Learning Communities, Steven Katz, Lorna Earl & Sonia Ben Jafar, Published 2009