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Online collaborative Learning and
TeamworkOnline Seminar
Dr. Lucilla Crosta
“The community did not happen unless the participants wanted it to happen” (Brown ,2001, p. 31)
What I will discuss
key Definitions
key Theories
Examples of online cooperative vs collaborative activities
The role of the tutor and of assessment
Conclusions
Key Definitions
Community of Practice vs Online Learning Community
The Community of Inquiry
Cooperative vs Collaborative teaching and learning
Community of Practice vs Online Learning
Comminities
Community of Practice (CoP) (Wenger, 1998) defined as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (p. 4)
Community of Practice vs Online Learning
Comminities Learning Community (LC) (McConnell, 2006) defined as “a cohesive community that embodies a culture of learning and where responsibility for learning is shared among community members.” (p. 19) and Online Learning Community are basically considered as a transposition of the Learning Community in the online environment where it is possible to develop strong ties, trust, shared values (McConnell, 2006)
Main differences between CoP & LC
The Community of Inquiry
Community of Inquiry (CoI) (Garrison and Anderson, 2003) as an online community of learners which facilitates critical discourse and reflection, diversity perspectives and high-order learning. Students can take responsibilities over their learning through negotiation and challenge of accepted beliefs. It is based on three components: social presence, teaching presence and cognitive presence
Cooperative vs Collaborative teaching and learning
Dillenbourg (1999) and Paulus (2005) provide a distinction between cooperative and collaborative work and state how the former is more controlled by the teacher and takes place with a division of work among participants, so that each one separately is respectively responsible for a portion of the work, whereas with collaboration the negotiation takes place simultaneously, developing shared meanings and co-constructing solutions to given problems with more control placed in the hand of the group
Cooperative vs Collaborative teaching and learning
Online cooperation vs collaboration seems to be a key feature of the work in the online learning community since it supports knowledge creation, critical thinking, resource sharing, time to reflect, responsibility over learning, mutual engatement, democracy (Kennedy and Duffy, 2004)
Key theoriesAxelrod (1984) the “metaphor of the game” (more convenient for participants to cooperate rather than to compete)
Vygotsky (1978)social cultural theories and “zone of proximal development”
Leave and Wenger (1991) “Learning is socially constructed”
Examples of cooperative vs collaborative online activities
A UK Online Master module in New Technologies & Lifelong Learning
An italian Blended Master in Online Education and Training
The Masters Design & Structure
UK Online Master Module - asynchronous forum messages of 3 months module - 2/3 groups of students 4 participants each- 3 face-to-face meetings
Italian Blended Master Course – asynchronous forum messages -5 groups of students 5/6 participants each - 2 main modules - 3 face-to-face meetings
Cooperative vs collaborative online activities - UK Module
WEEK- DURATION ACTIVITIES METHODS & ASSESSMENT
4 weeksDiscussion Seminar I
Large Group Discussion
- Individual short paper- Individual Discussion
Reflection
3 weeksDiscussion Seminar II
Two parallel group discussions
- Group short paper- Group discussion
reflection
5 weeksCollaborative study project I
Creation of new sub-groups
according with areas of interst
- Individual study project
2 weeksCollaborative
study project IISub-group discussion
- Assimilating the individual work into a
joint work
3 weeks Peer review work
Comments on project papers
according with the assessment criteria
peer review
Cooperative vs collaborative online activities - Italian Master
WEEK- DURATION
ACTIVITIES METHODS & ASSESSMENT
2 weeksProblem Based
Learning on Case studies
5 main assigned sub-groups
Small group Case study solution
10 daysLearning
assessment on Case studies
5 main assigned sub-groups
Small group learning assessment solution
10 daysDevelopment of an assessment
framework
5 main assigned sub-groups
Small group assessment framework
12 days
Peer review of the team
product inside each team
5 main assigned sub-groups
Peer review work
The role of the tutor & of assessment
UK Online Master Module: the tutor was part of the group, discussed on given issues, answered questions, experimented technologies together with students, was part of the community and assessed students’ work
Italian Blended Master Course: the tutor style changed between tutor and tutor so from the more “observer” one to the more “participative” one, however he/she was meant to encourage students’ creativity. The tutor did not assess students’ work, while teacher did
In both contexts the role of assessment was a key one in supporting or preventing students in participating to their online collaborative activities
Conclusion
My thinking is that although technology changes and evolves, the primarily
principles of cooperation and collaboration remain. We only need to be creative in re-inventing new pedagogical practices that may help us as educators, to enhance the learning benefits of collaboration through
the use of new technologies.....
