Melissa Borger

John Geraghty

Angela Ivey

Jacqueline Mingo

Hannah Saunders

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Why Collaborate?

“Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” ~Mattie Stepanek

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

critical thinking skills Promotes Co-creation of knowledge Promotes Reflection

http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/upload/Draft%20Digital%20Strategy%202.0/Collaboration.jpg

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Building Community

A sense of community must exist for collaboration to occur

Students need a sense of community because they will feel comfortable collaborating in this type of environment. If they feel isolated, they will not open up and contribute to the discussion.

Melanie Misanchuk and Tiffany Anderson found that “when students communicate not only on an academic level but on a personal level…the members feel they are in a safe enough space to “speak up” about things in the public forum, rather than in individual e-mail messages…” (“Building community in an online learning environment: communication, cooperation and collaboration” )

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Elements of Community

All People Involved

Shared Purpose

Guidelines

Technology or Meeting Places

Collaborative Learning

Reflection

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Why Do People Need to Learn to Work

Together?

Evan Rosen, author of The Culture of Collaboration, indicates that 10 cultural elements are present during

effective collaboration:

1. Trust – essential in order to create something with others.

2. Sharing – enhances the value of everyone involved because each becomes part of the whole--weaknesses in some members are supplemented by strengths in others.

3. Goals – agreed upon goals create the drive to

create something new and exciting

Why Do People Need to Learn to Work

Together? (cont.)4. Innovation – the desire to create inspires innovation

and innovation depends upon collaboration

5. Environment – both physical and virtual space are conducive to collaboration

6. Collaborative Chaos – “allows the unexpected to happenand generates rich returns”.

7. Constructive Confrontation – the exchange of viewpointsand the constructive confrontation are important so that the “shared creation” is better.

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Why Do People Need to Learn to Work

Together? (cont.)

8. Communication – necessary for collaboration (both interpersonal and intrapersonal communication)

9. Community – necessary for a sense of “comfort and trust” in which to collaborate

10.Value – primary reason to collaborate is to create value due to lessened product creation time, new ideas, faster problem solving, etc. (“In Today's Process-Driven Workplace, Collaboration Is King”, May 21, 2008 in Knowledge@W.P. Carey )

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When Groups Work and Don’t WorkJohnson, Johnson, and Holubec determined five components

of successful groups:

Positive interdependence: group members need to

believe that they cannot succeed unless others in the group succeed

Promotive interaction: group members should support each other’s success by encouraging each other’s efforts and by sharing resources.

Individual and group accountability: not only does the group need to be held accountable as a group, but group members must be held accountable for their participation

Interpersonal and small group skills: members should possess skills conducive to getting along with others. If these skills don’t already exist, they should be taught.

Group processing: members should be able to discuss how well they are achieving goals. They need to be able to define and discuss decisions and behaviors that help or impede group progress. (Cooperation in the Classroom. 1993)

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When Groups Work and Don’t Work:

(cont.)

Last summer I was at a two week summer training in Maryland for a new engineering course I was going to teach. It is a Project Lead the Way course called Engineering Design and Development. Right away the instructors divided us into groups of three and gave us our instructions. We had to "invent" something or make an innovation to an existing product by going through the design process. My group was very diverse; Ken came into teaching after 20+ years in industry, Walt had only been teaching a few years and this is my 26th year teaching. One characteristic that made this successful was that each person knew their role. Ken was the natural leader because of his experience, Walt is very organized and kept us on schedule and I took care of the design on the software. Another characteristic was that we all got along very well. We laughed and joked around a lot.

This experience was in my classroom where my students were working on a virtual design project. My class worked with another class in South Carolina through Skype. I divided my class into 10 groups of two and they each were paired up with two students in the other class. They were supposed to work together through Skype to design a desk organizer. They would make contact each day, send files and talk about next steps. Throughout the project my students would complain that their partners in the other class weren’t doing their job. They said they were talking about things other than the project. It seemed they weren’t taking it seriously. I think the reason was that the other teacher didn’t set guidelines and wasn’t monitoring them very well.

Stages of Group Development

NORMINGRules become established and goals of the group become clear. Members tend to

understand each other better by this stage and can appreciate each other’s contributions. Members also tend to support and encourage each other and begin to

feel like they can be an effective group.

STORMINGConflict begins to emerge as members tire of “playing nice” all the time.

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” ~Mahatma GhandiWhen people disagree, whether it’s engineers trying to solve a problem or a family, it

makes people re-think their ideas and come up with different solutions.

FORMING

Members desire to be accepted by others in the group and tend to avoid controversy or conflict. Not much gets done at this stage because team members avoid conflict,

feelings and serious issues. (Tuckman, Bruce)

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Stages of Group Development (CONT.)

ADJOURNINGTasks are completed and the group members disengage during this stage. Members will recognize the achievements of the group and this stage is characterized by a sense of pride. Sometimes it is difficult for members during this stage. It has been described as a “de-forming and mourning” stage, as some group members may experience a sense

of loss. (Tuckman).

PERFORMINGComfort levels are at a high level which allows members to be able to concentrate on the assigned tasks. They can change roles and take on new responsibilities almost

effortlessly. Roles are assigned and members are trusted to complete their assignments independently. The group has established a solid identity and members are loyal to one

another.

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What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor?

Set the Stage

Let students know your expectations. Provide your students with a syllabus and review it with them.

Create the environment

Create Wiki pages, and share contact info.

Model appropriate communication methods.

Check in frequently with your students give feedback where needed.

Comment on good work and contact students who are not participating.

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What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor? (cont.)

Guide the processIf students are not on the right track, give them

the support and resources that they will need.

Transition your role from facilitator to consultantto provide your students with expertise andencouragement as needed.

Evaluate the process

Use self-reflection and survey’s

to evaluate the process.

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Successful Collaboration

Learn about each other.

Communicate frequently and

effectively.

Try to avoid sarcasm, it’s hard to tell in

text.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/online-business-communication-tools.jpg

Ten Simple Rules for a Successful

Collaboration Don’t Be Lured into Just Any Collaboration

Collaborations must have a shared purpose and passion.

Decide at the Beginning Who Will Work on What Tasks

Establishing roles at the beginning is essential

Stick To Your Tasks

Stick to the tasks the group has decided on and don’t change plans without consulting everyone in the group

Feel Respect, Get Respect

This means pulling your own weight.

Be Open and Honest

A trusting relationship is necessary for good collaboration

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Ten Simple Rules for a Successful

Collaboration (cont.)Communicate, Communicate, and Communicate

S Stay in contact with your group members during the collaboration process, whether by email, wiki, chat room, or phone

Protect Yourself from a Collaboration That Turns Sour.

Stay in contact with your group members (see rule 6) and your instructor

Always Acknowledge Your Collaborators

Be sure to give all group members credit

Seek Advice from the Instructor

In a situation where problems arise within the group that cannot be rectified, see guidance from the instructor

If Your Collaboration Satisfies You, Keep It Going

If it doesn’t, take heart! It won’t last forever!

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The Teamwork Makes The Dream Work!

Remember……

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