Tales from inside the blender — Five models of collaboration (original) (raw)
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Tales from Inside the Blender - Five Models of Collaboration
Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 2012 IEEE International Conference on
While much has been written about collaboration in higher education, very little of it focuses on collaboration across educational institutions. This paper describes the experience of a project to share courses between two Australian institutions using a blended online and face-to-face course design. We discuss models that have emerged in the process. It was found that collaboration is most fruitful, in terms of student learning and course development and delivery, when the course coordinators in the two universities are peers who have comparable gravitas and breadth and depth of knowledge. It was also found that there are preconditions to the success of a two-university collaboration, and that establishing these preconditions takes a considerable amount of time.
Collaborative trends in higher education
6th International Conference on Education and …, 2008
The emerging information and communications technologies (ICT) have the potential to strengthen education and make universities more responsive to the needs of their students. The emergence and the proliferation of models for online and flexible learning initiated a process of convergence between the traditionally distinct and separate distance education and faceto-face education as universities are becoming increasingly enabled to collaborate and develop innovative teaching initiatives. This paper explores some of the ways in which institutions can use technological progress to their best advantage and how they can improve the horizontal bonds between them by adapting and implementing Internet based technologies based on the premise that as distance no longer determines the cost of communicating electronically, common interests and experience, and shared pursuits rather than proximity bind stakeholders together. Finally the ways in which the role of the teacher is changing from that of a subject expert to that of a facilitator and counsellor who uses the World Wide Web and high-speed/ high-capacity networks as a vehicle to perform are considered with a focus on how the improved new technologies can be used to support the common interests, experience and academic objectives in different institutions, and to contribute to the creation of a global learning environment.
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2021
Welcome to this Special Issue of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP). This editorial provides an overview of Collaboration in Higher Education. Humans are social, inter-dependent beings, needing to be and communicate with each other. Being with other people provides an opportunity to grow and develop, creating a sense of self and identity. Together we construct, structure and restructure the stories that build the larger narratives of who we are, what we do and how we live, act and behave as people, professionals and larger communities. It is through our collaborations that we come together, and construct meaning and ourselves. As Higher Education continues to exclude and sideline, as it constrains and removes spaces and places for collaboration between service staff, faculty and students within institutions, between institutions, and with other stakeholders, there is a need to rediscover the power of collaboration. The articles included, build on practical experience, research data, personal and collective reflections, to outline how the contributors have navigated this tension to create spaces of voice and hope. Presented are case studies that are boundary crossing: across disciplinary boundaries; cross-institution collaboration; cross-boundary working; pedagogical co-creation and the re-conceptualising of learning; and students as partners, co-researchers and co-authors. Together they showcase refreshed notions of collegiality and collaboration in Higher Education that support new and more nuanced, and dynamic models of co-creation. We hope the Special Issue helps seed an ecology of collaborative practice for social justice – a more humane academia.
Challenges in assessing the nature of effective collaboration in blended university courses
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2020
The ability to collaborate effectively face-to-face and online represents a critical skill for university graduates. However, there are still challenges regarding how to accurately assess this skill through traditional student learning measures. To better understand the nature of effective collaboration of university students in blended courses, the current study drew on the student approaches to learning framework and social network analysis techniques. We examined how student approaches to inquiry, approaches to online learning technologies, perceptions of the blended learning environment, different learning outcomes and configurations of collaboration are related. The methodologies commonly used in student approaches to learning research identified deep and surface approaches to inquiry and technologies, positive and negative perceptions of the integration of the learning environment, and of online workload, which also showed logical alignment with relatively better and poorer ac...
Design Issues in a Cross‐institutional Collaboration on a Distance Education Course
Distance Education, 2005
Collaborative learning has been gaining momentum as a promising pedagogy in higher education. Research on student collaboration is increasing. However, one arena is often overlooked-faculty collaboration. In this article, a cross-institutional faculty collaboration is presented. The context is faculty collaboration on the design of an undergraduate engineering course. Specifically, this paper examines design issues encountered in the faculty collaborations associated with developing, delivering, and redesigning a senior-level engineering design course that was taught simultaneously at two universities. This course was taught in state-of-the-art distance learning classrooms. Both within class and outside class, participating students and faculty made use of a Web-based environment that supported a variety of synchronous and asynchronous interactions. The course itself focused on team design projects and provided instruction on the engineering design process, in various specific skills needed for the students' projects, and on how to function effectively as part of a geographically distributed engineering design team. The participating faculty members represented different backgrounds, academic disciplines, and academic cultures. Issues related to collaborations on development, delivery, and redesign are elaborated. Based on the lessons learned, suggestions for future cross-institutional faculty collaboration in course development are provided.
Creating partnerships in a distributed learning environment: some lessons learned
2001
Abstract The process of forming the necessary partnerships for the design of a flexibly delivered, interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts (BA) in a distributed learning environment over three separate sites proved an interesting challenge for Faculty and support units at the University of Wollongong. The exercise provided an opportunity to look at the organisation of teaching and learning from the outside and demonstrated where partnerships should be further developed to enhance both student and organisational learning.
Collaborative Learning With Students In Other HE Institutions: A Collaborative Discussion Paper
gees.ac.uk
There is no doubt that 'collaboration' has become a buzzword among senior administrators in higher education institutions throughout the world. Operating within international networks, developing strategic alliances and memoranda of understanding with other institutions are crucial to projecting an image of a wellconnected university. An evolution in how collaboration occurs at higher education institutes can be traced. Initially collaboration was seen as being in the domain of researchers and numerous research alliances were established; more recently collaboration is becoming prevalent in undergraduate education. As advances in information technology open up possibilities for enhanced communication with students within and beyond the campus the opportunities for innovative and pedagogically-informed collaboration increases, but so too do the risks. Like most buzzwords, collaboration has a double edged meaning. In its positive sense it refers to the co-operation with other people in a creative venture, but in its more sinister definition it refers to acting traitorously with an enemy. That is not to suggest that rival institutions should consider themselves as enemies, but rather to ask whether the multiple agendas addressed in developing collaborative agenda pay enough attention to enhancing the experience of the learner. Given the focus on mastering technology to deliver online courses, Palloff & Pratt (2001) warn that the learner is often left out of the equation. The aim of this discussion paper is to raise a number of questions about the nature and usefulness of collaboration. What do we understand by the term collaboration and how is this exemplified in the context of geography in higher education, especially in context of teaching and learning in undergraduate geography education? Does geography make a difference: is its subject matter particularly suited to collaboration and does the location of collaborators influence its likely success? How can collaborative ventures be initiated, championed and enhanced? Who are the stakeholders involved in collaborative activity and how do they benefit? And how do we know they benefit? What complications does international collaboration bring to the assessment of teaching and learning? To what extent is collaboration driven by advances in information technology rather than by pedagogic considerations? In other words, how can we extract the positive rather than the sinister connotations from collaboration? (Add refs) Given that collaborative ventures are an increasing feature of the higher education
Inter-University International Collaboration for an Online Course: A Case Study
Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 2014
This paper is a practical account of the experience of collaboration between two international partners-one in Europe and the other in the United States .This collaboration experience is a lens through which the authors outline the origin, design and implementation of an inter-university teaching experience. The processes, strengths and difficulties are outlined and the rationale for utilising a virtual world is given, along with the participants' perspectives of the experience. No institutional changes or formal agreements were needed. The same course was validated and accredited by each institution and designed to address the requirements of each with the responsibility for participant progress and assessment remaining with the home institution. The paper discusses issues of coordination and makes recommendations for developing similar collaborations.