Posted by When I started to read the literature for Module 3 of the course, I was a bit conflicted on the theoretical framing of collaborative learning as it didn’t immediately align with my personal experiences and practice. In addition, the sufficient background for understanding theoretical considerations felt lacking (e.g. Wenger 2010). However, then I made a reflection break to think of my own experiences of collaborative learning and it hit me… research circles (Persson 2008)
I have participated in such a circle as a researcher in international human rights law together with other researchers and practitioners of human rights at Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (rwi.lu.se). Research circles provide opportunities to researchers and practitioners to develop knowledge together with an added value of a final product. I will not go deep into the details of what was the topic and why it was important to research, but I will focus more on the reflection about the learning process and that we have achieved the result in form of the product (which was a final collective report).
I have to note that the co-creation of knowledge and meaning for me started already at the problem-formulating phase of the research circle. (Persson 2008:24) The realization came quickly that the problem that presented itself to me was not necessarily presented to others or understood by them in the same way. That led to sharing knowledge with each other and recognition of the multidimensional nature of the problem itself. By common formulation of the problem and then during the subsequent reflection on our research problem, we created an additional knowledge about the problem together. And that we wouldn’t be able to reach on our individual owns. Furthermore, the same was true when we have been discussing the review of literature, theoretical grounding, and methodological approaches. The insights of practitioners grounded the understanding of researchers, while theoretical knowledge of researchers provided the conceptual framing for practitioners and confirmed or falsified their assumptions. This is very much aligned with the Palloff & Pratt (2005) concept of pedagogical benefits of collaborative learning.
Moreover, when planning the circle, we have specifically made a goal-manifesto where we clearly describe the level of expectations and ambitions, provided and plan and instructions, discussed the relevance of the product that we want to achieve, provided time managements safeguards and feedback and reflection mechanisms. Those necessary preparations did not only fit the logic of the research circles, (Persson 2008:19-23) but also were conceptually aligned with the Brindley et al. (2009) study of collaborative learning.
In the end we have achieved a product, that only speaking form myself, I was proud of and can confirmed and attest to my own learning. When reflecting upon the knowledge I gained, it presents itself as multidimensional and not only added to the overall knowledge of the problem that I had, but also to the knowledge and understanding of my own skills as a researcher and also gaps and paths towards my personal development. Was this “a community of inquiry”? It certainly had all the dimensions: and even the teaching presence was dynamically shifting between participants and the supervisor. (Anderson 2008)
Wait… am I on to something, or?
If you want to read more:
Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context. In The theory and practice of online learning (pp. 343-365). Athabasca university press
Brindley, J., Blaschke, L. M. & Walti, C. (2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3)
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Persson, S. (2008) Forskningscirklar – en vägledning. Metodbok. Resurscentrum för mångfaldens skola: Malmö. https://muep.mau.se/bitstream/handle/2043/7155/forskningscirklar%20-%20en%20v%20gledning.pdf?sequence=1
Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a concept. In Social learning systems and communities of practice (pp. 179-198). Springer London