Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication are the popular buzzwords in today’s education arena. When you look closely at the positive attributes of these traits/skills each one seems amazing all on its own with virtues I would want for each of my students. This week I have read many articles examining the depth of each trait, but the one that intrigues me the most is collaboration.
Maybe I am intrigued because it seems to be one of the most modern and novel traits. Maybe I am intrigued because the idea of it brings up such “mixed” mental images in my mind of group projects that did not go so well. These images make me smile and groan simultaneously.
The Memories
I was a senior in high school. The class was Advanced Biology and the task was a group “A” project. Creativity, collaboration, and communication were definitely going to be assessed for the grade by the teacher and our peers. My best friend and I teamed up. This was going to be fun! We set to work thinking of biology topics and presentation ideas.
In a short time we were joined by a classmate who needed a group. We gave him permission to join us and eagerly asked for his input and ideas. He had NONE (at least no ideas that are memorable after nearly 20 years!) What was memorable was that created and performed an awesome song about Blue Whales. Also memorable was the fact that we received very little creativity or industry from our 3rd partner.
The most memorable event, however, was our 10 year reunion. The same gentleman came up to me, hugged me, and apologized for not “doing his part”. Come to find out, his conscience had not let him forget that he hadn’t deserved that particular “A” in Advanced Biology.
Fast forward to an online MA of Education course. Every class included a group project. The catch? Each of the students lived in different states around the U.S. This was my first experience with on-line learning and I did not understand, or want to understand, the purpose of such an illogical task. Once again my grade would hang on the abilities, or lack thereof, of other students (who happened to be other very busy teachers). Each of us was given a specific portion of research and writing. These pieces were smooshed together and turned-in online as “one report”.
At its best some groups had members who did communicated through texts or threads, the assignment felt organized, this arrangement gave me an “A” and I got to see some good research writing done by other teachers. At its worst some teachers submitted such poor writing that I was embarrassed and concerned for our grade. One teacher never submitted her portion and the group submitted our pieces without hers.
The Need
Yet even with this mixed bag of experiences in group projects, I see the great value in teaching my students how to come alongside other learners to expand their understanding and create something bigger than themselves. I believe this is a fundamental virtue of a follower of Jesus Christ who drew all manner of people to himself in order to serve, heal, teach, and create something great--a loving person. He wants His children to also serve others with compassion and empathy, using our individual strengths to build a team who are creative and truth filled doers. Doers of good. This is the C I want to challenge myself and my students with this year-to push our work to a higher level.
The Challenge
Collaboration uses communication, creativity, and critical thinking. In fact, I believe the other C’s drive the collaboration “bus” so to speak. However, this skill does not develop instinctively. It is not born into us naturally, nor can a group project make students into good collaborators. According to an article in Education Week,
"The elephant in the room when you have students work in groups is, if you don't explicitly teach them how to collaborate, they are not going to do it. If you just put them in groups and give them a task, that's not enough," Kelly said. (Sparks, 2017, May 16).
To gain some insights into How to teach students this skill and let the large pachyderm out of the room, I have included these helpful articles.
Sparks, S. (2017, May 16). Children Must Be Taught to Collaborate, Studies Say. Education Week. Vol. 36, 31, 8. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/05/17/children-must-be-taught-to-collaborate-studies.html
Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation (2012, October, 19). Collaborative Learning: Group Work. Retrieved from https://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/collaborative-learning.html
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