Presented to you by the Pompano Group

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Presented to you by the Pompano Group
Developing Community for Effective Collaboration

• Thomas Jurkowski, Michelle FulwiderWestall, Jian
  Zhao,
• Diana Freeman, and Wendy Warren

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Collaboration in the Online Classroom
The mission for the Pompano Team

• Your help is needed to complete this PowerPoint
  for a very important presentation to new teachers
• It is your job to help them understand the
  importance of collaboration in the online
  classroom and provide some tips
• As you read through this presentation, add
  anything you wish to add
• When you see Your Turn in and instructions in Red
  Text, be sure to replace it with your ideas
• Make sure your ideas are in a different color.
• You may change the look of the PowerPoint in any
  way

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Why Collaborate?

• Promotes deeper levels of knowledge
• Promotes initiative, creativity and development
  of critical thinking skills
• Promotes Co-creation of knowledge
• Promotes Reflection

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Building Community

• A sense of community must exist for collaboration
  to occur
• Students need a sense of community for
  collaboration to occur because it feels as if
  they are part of the same group, "in the same
  boat," and have a feeling of togetherness and
  teamwork. The students feel connected and work
  toward a common goal. If there is no sense of
  community, the other team members feel strange
  and distant, thus making it difficult for
  collaboration to occur. (Jian)

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Elements of Community

• All the people involved
• Shared purpose
• Sharing information, experiences, interests,
  resources
• Guidelines
• Structure of the course, groundrules for
  participation and interaction
• Technology or Meeting Places
• Collaborative Learning
• Student-to-student interaction
• Reflection
• To reinforce and transform the learning

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Why Do People Need to Learn to Work Together?

• Soft skills (i.e. interpersonal communication,
  effective writing as means of communication,
  ability to mediate, et cetera) are critical in
  todays workplace. By designing group work, as
  instructors, we better prepare our students for
  their futures thus making them more competitive
  in the real job market. (Michelle)

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When Groups Work and Dont Work

• Groups work best when members are encouraging and
  learning from each other. A well oiled group
  will produce synergy.(Tom)
• The last project I worked on consisted of a group
  of former soldiers each experts in their
  respective fields. The team were all agreed on
  the ultimate objective and each member worked
  toward accomplishing this goal. Suggestions were
  made and received mutually without rancor. The
  ultimate mission was a complete success. (Tom)

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When Groups Work and Dont Work

• In the realm of school-based staff development,
  this year PLCs (Professional Learning
  Communities) became PLTs (Professional Learning
  Teams) PLTs. Along with the name change came a
  shift in the structure of our sub-PLTs (i.e. PLTs
  by language AND levels Spanish I PLT, Spanish II
  PLT, French I PLT, etc.). The formation of a
  general language PLT (i.e. Spanish PLT that
  includes all levels) provided an opportunity for
  a young, new teacher to develop her leadership
  skills. Unfortunately, her tone and mannerisms
  were extremely condescending as she interacted
  with veteran teachers and native speakers. In
  hindsight, I believe she was trying to develop
  her leadership style and perhaps felt the need to
  assert herself to accomplish this. This might
  fall into Tuckmans storming phase, the period
  when patience can wear thin as team members
  negotiate how they will work together.  This
  phase can be stressful due to disorientation and
  reorientation. (Michelle)

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When Groups Work and Dont Work

• What I appreciated about the group was the
  collective wealth of knowledge and varied
  experiences (i.e. recent graduates who offered
  ideas on the blending of technology and foreign
  language instruction, veteran teachers who shared
  best practices and native speakers who
  communicated the nuances of culture).  I believe
  the group failed to function because (1)all
  members did not truly value the contributions
  made by others and (2)the lack of developed
  interpersonal skills of the leader. (Michelle)

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Stages of Group Development

• Forming when groups get to know one another
• Norming when groups figure out how to work
  together
• Storming Problem-solving where there will be
  disagreement and/or conflict
• It is important to disagree NOT for the sake of
  making trouble, but to truly announce what you
  object to. If your group is going on with the
  project but you think they are doing something
  wrong, you should speak up. Having said that, it
  IS important for the group to minimize conflicts.
  However, disagreement is sometimes the only way
  to get your ideas and options heard. (Jian)
• Performing when groups work to complete the task
• Adjourning when groups end the work and disband
  or regroup for other tasks

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What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor?

• Set the Stage
• Setting the stage sets the tone for the
  assignment therefore the creating a comfort zone
  encourages the asking of questions and the
  atmosphere that will allow mistakes and
  conversations about differing opinions. Clear
  directions and a question and answer area as you
  established is another way to set the stage and
  give support as participants learn a new
  technology. Sharing best practices with learners
  which should include mistakes adds to the comfort
  level of learners. (Diana)
• Create the environment
• Design/Implement curriculum-based, engaging
  activities that truly foster online learning.
• Encourage self-accountability and active learning
  from students (i.e. the use of a checklist for
  learning outcomes met to be filled out by student
  every chapter/quarter). (Michelle)

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What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor?

• Model the process
• Attempt to be proactive in anticipating problems,
  especially those related to group collaboration
  (i.e. group dynamics, deadlines, sufficient time
  for project completion).
• Monitor the intermediate steps in group work by
  being "visible" in the posting of
  announcements as deadline reminders and
  encouragement to group members to seek to be
  accommodating with one another.
• Have an array of online instructional strategies
  to facilitate students success in achieving the
  courses objectives (i.e. the use of instructor
  established chat rooms, wikis, discussion forums,
  e-mails)
• In essence, be present and be approachable
  (Michelle)

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What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor?

• Guide the process
• An instructor can guide the process by taking on
  a facilitators role in leading discussions
  (Socratic method) that allow for input and
  thought rather than right versus wrong answers
• Design activities that allow for students to
  gather information and analyze and synthesize the
  information to demonstrate understanding
• Provide opportunities for learners to share and
  collaborate with classmates through forums, group
  work, consistent posting and responses and
  encouraging all studentseven reluctant onesto
  participate.
• Plan opportunities for interaction and discussion
  between students
• Monitor communications and resolve any negative
  situations between students/groups
• Provide students with opportunities for
  reflection and feedback. (Wendy)

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What Do I Need to Do as an Instructor?

• Evaluate the process
• An instructor should consider the obstacles and
  successes of the group, should retrospectively
  examine how the group worked through issues to
  reach decisions, and evaluate the group as a
  whole. The instructor should also allow group
  members to evaluate each other and consider those
  peer evaluations in the overall evaluation. For
  instance, members should reflect on and identify
  their contributions as well as those of other
  members of the group. Patterns of participation
  should emerge. A key in the whole-group
  evaluation should hinge on if the group
  functioned as a balanced groupequally
  distributing tasks and responsibilities. (Wendy)

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Successful Collaboration

• Use Web 2.0 Tools that research proves enhances
  collaboration such as ivisit, Elluminate, DimDim
  and other online conference tools to provide
  visual contact. Lurk in the forums to monitor
  group conversations and redirect as needed so the
  group remains on topic to be successful with
  their assignment. Clearly state objectives and
  guide the process of group work assignments the
  less ambiguity the lesser chance of individual
  interpretations. Use a personality assessment or
  some process so the individuals can clarify their
  strengths and weaknesses to improve understanding
  of each team members style. Create non
  threatening activities for the group to complete
  before a major project is assigned. Lastly,
  communication, communication, communication is
  the key for success collaboration between the
  group and the leader. (Diana)

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Fin!