Learning in communities - networked collaborative learning
I love
collaborative learning and to be engaged in different communities of practice. For
me it is a big part of my learning to process topics and content together with
others. It makes me learn more and gives me a deeper understanding.
http://www.enzen.se/upplevelsebaserat-larande/
But is collaborative learning and learning in communities, easy or not?
I would say, it is not easy.
First, collaborative work is hard to manage for those taking part in it.
You need to be able to:
- listen
- reflect on other members way of
thinking
- unpretentious
- creative
- fail
- take the time needed
- be worshipful to the members in the
group
Second, in
a perspective of education there is a conflict between collaborative work and individual
grades based on collaborative work. It is important to think through the
arguments and to describe how the collaborative work is related to the
individual assessment and grade.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811030205
Though, in work
life and in a global perspective, for example to reach UN: s 17 goals for sustainable
development, it is important to know collaborative learning. And for your life
long learning you need to know the possibilities with learning in communities
and to have a personal learning network to relay on for developing your skills
in different areas.
Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (un.org)
Thanks to
digital tools there are a lot of possibilities to arrange both a virtual workplace
where you can share content, work in process and present collaborative work to
others. Examples are Mural, Gathertown or MS Teams.
MURAL is a digital-first visual collaboration
platform | MURAL
Gather | A better way to meet online.
Video Conferencing, Meetings,
Calling | Microsoft Teams
The digital
tools also give the opportunity to arrange collaborative learning regardless of
time and space and even to let students from universities in different
countries work together.
Looking at myself, I have a personal learning network with several communities of practice. My communities depend on area of interest and the communities are both online and at site.
https://www.schoology.com/blog/personal-learning-network-pln-benefits-tools-and-tactics
https://www.communityofpractice.ca/background/what-is-a-community-of-practice/
One is the community around the Makerspace, where we both learn from each other and together. This community is both online and on site and with social media the community can share and learn from each other regardless of time and space.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture
Agneta, thanks for sharing!
SvaraRaderaI will have to look into the references/links later but I liked your post.
Some thoughts in relation to my PBL-groups work; we decided to use the five stage model by Gilly Salmon. We tried to map different types of support needed in different part the model. We identified three areas; skills, tools and support/facilitation which all contribute in different ways to "reach" collaborative learning and not only collaboration.
We tried to differentiate between
Collaboration (in work). Aim: Produce a report/deliverable for other people.
Collaborative learning. Aim: To feedback, evaluate, and improve on your own ideas. Development and learning is personal.
https://www.opennetworkedlearning.se/onl212/2021/11/19/moving-from-collaboration-to-collaborative-learning/
Sometimes information exchange could be good enough but I guess your bullet list could help the students to understand what we are trying to practice in group activities...
Thank you Johan, I will definitely look in to your work to learn more.
RaderaHi Agneta,
SvaraRaderaThanks for a personal and interesting blog post. It's really interesting to know more about how you have created your personal networks, and your experiences of collaborative learning. Here I also think that Johan's comments on Collaboration and Collaborative learning is good perspectives to have in mind. I also strongly believe to make problem-based and project-oriented learning to work well in classes, students need to understand that assessment and grading is applied on an individual level. Finally, I think you succeeded very well considering the collaboration at home, letting others do the the dishes, while you observe and learn :-) //Fredrik
Thanks for your feedback and I will definitely look into Johans groups work.
RaderaRegarding using my collaboration methods at home, I have learnt a lot from the observing and I will continue. :)
Hi Agneta,
SvaraRaderathanks for your reflections and for sharing your experience . I think this is another good way to learn from the reflections and experience of others. There was a very interesting point you made in your reflections and that was about the importance of accepting to fail during the learning process. It is an aspect that is too often neglected when it comes to group work. On the contrary I think it has a great value, because one can learn from the 'wrong doing' and not just from the best practices. Being able to accept and understand failures is an opportunity that one has, to improve and find solutions to the problems. Otherwise it would be too simple and sterile to just observe things that worked in a process. It is not just about learning by doing , but it is also learn by 'wrong doing'. It is just to play on words!
Thank you for your feedback and thought on failure. :)
RaderaThank you for an enlightening post! The "simple" list of participator skill requirement caught me. It is simple in the way even I can memorise it, but its content and the challenge it puts the participtant to is real... I am thinking of maybe start next collaborative situation with this list and a silent minute for all to reflect on and tune in to... Have you used it in such way maybe?
SvaraRadera