Authentic Collaboration Research Articles

Walanbaa warramildanha: The impact of authentic Aboriginal community and school engagement on teachers’ professional knowledge

The conundrum of Indigenous education in Australia is that there are multiple, highly contested and polarising narratives that vie to inform both public and policy debate about how to construct effective schooling of Aboriginal students. Two of these contested discourses, which are seen to drive much of this debate, highlight the complexity of concerns—one which is essentially aspirational in its intent but unperceptive to the realities of Aboriginal student achievement and a second data focused discourse that is managerial and evaluative in its focus to disclose policy and pedagogic failures on student outcomes. The first has posed the politically more palatable proposition that there has been a slow, sometimes faltering but inexorable improvement in Aboriginal education, while the second highlights a mounting body of qualitative data that document an overall failure by school systems to lift Aboriginal student education achievement. The author recognises the complex and historical nature of the multilayered ‘issues’ that sit at the heart of Aboriginal underachievement. He argues that one of those underpinning issues that has plagued Aboriginal education centres on the depth of the socio-cultural disconnect between Aboriginal students and their communities, and teachers. He also argues that, too often, teachers are appointed to schools with limited social, political and professional knowledge about the particular needs and aspirations of Aboriginal students such that it impacts on their capacity to establish authentic connections to students. The research on which this article is based sets out to provide an understanding of both the nature and dynamics of community and school engagement in sites with high proportions of Aboriginal students. The study aimed to investigate teachers’ capacity to develop authentic pedagogic practices that are responsive to the educational, cultural and aspirational needs of Aboriginal students. In particular, the research highlights how the relational dynamics between schools and Aboriginal people have been deeply affected by colonial histories of exclusion and systemic disadvantage, pervasive school discourses of marginalisation and in particular an ignorance about holistic needs of Aboriginal students at school and the resultant negative relational interactions between schools and Aboriginal families. This multisite ethnographic study was undertaken with Aboriginal community members, teachers and school principals in 2012 as doctoral research. It was conducted within a relational landscape characterised by an enduring socio-cultural dissonance between schools and their Aboriginal communities. The study focused on examples of authentic collaboration and purposeful interactions between Aboriginal communities and schools that were shown to support teachers in building deeper understanding that enhanced their cognisance of the wider needs of Aboriginal students. The findings in this article highlight that when authentic engagement between Aboriginal people and schools occurred, it appeared to positively impact the teachers’ professional knowledge and created a consequent interest within these communities to engage with their schools. The research further identified that in each site the Aboriginal participants articulated an interest in developing authentic school collaborations that would enhance student outcomes. These findings suggested that teachers need to honour, understand and actively reflect on community history, contexts and aspirations to develop the skills and knowledge to address the particular socio-cultural and educational needs of Aboriginal students.

Seminary Formation: Recent History, Current Circumstances, New Directions by Katarina Schuth

Reviewed by: Seminary Formation: Recent History, Current Circumstances, New Directions by Katarina Schuth Gregory J. Fairbanks Seminary Formation: Recent History, Current Circumstances, New Directions. By Katarina Schuth. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016. 212pp. $24.95. Seminary Formation: Recent History, Current Circumstances, New Directions by Katarina Schuth, is an update of an earlier work. The author has spent most of her professional life in seminary formation, and is recognized as an expert in the sociology of religion. Schuth begins with setting the historical context of seminary formation with the themes developed in Optatam Totius (Decree on Priestly Training). During the years immediately following the Council, the U.S. Bishops issued successive versions of the Program for Priestly Formation (PPF, now in its fifth edition), updating seminary training. Schuth notes that the direct references to Vatican II documents in each edition has decreased with more references to post-conciliar documents such as Pastores dabo Vobis (John Paul II, 1992). Among the emphases that have shifted are the lessening of service-oriented pastoral formation and the centrality of the historical critical method of exegesis for Sacred Scripture, and a re-introduction of the centrality of Thomas Aquinas. She observes that the changes have corresponded to a generational shift of bishops and faculty who were not involved with the Council and its reception. The leadership of seminaries have changed over the past fifty years, with increasing numbers of staff and the growing importance of governing boards. Accreditation agencies, such as the Association of Theological Schools, have both increased an ecumenical viewpoint and focused attention on structure and finances. As the Vatican II generation has retired, the makeup of faculties has shifted to more diocesan priests and laity (men and women), and fewer religious (order priests and sisters). The student bodies of seminaries have become increasingly international, as the population has shifted and fewer young American Catholics practice their faith. Human and Spiritual formation, parts of the four pillars of seminary formation identified by the PPF, have developed quite a bit since [End Page 102] Vatican II, especially in light of Pastores dabo Vobis, as well as the sexual abuse crisis, the change in the age and ethnic makeup of seminarians, the flux of seminary faculty and administration, and the changing roles of priests as their numbers decrease. Seminaries mostly have dedicated staff for each area of formation and treat the Human and Spiritual dimensions with increased attention. The Intellectual and Pastoral dimensions have also developed and grown. The number of required academic credit hours has increased, as have the number of hours spent on supervised pastoral ministry practica. In the final section of the book, Schuth and several other authors offer their perspectives on the current and future needs for seminary formation. She observes the ongoing centrality of a pastoral mandate in seminary formation since Vatican II and recommends a constant review of seminary formation for the current context, including the growth of the secular culture and an honest appraisal of what has alienated so many Catholics who have left the faith, as well as an evaluation of ministerial effectiveness. A generation gap among the clergy is also recognized, both in terms of perception and implementation of ministry. Schuth, and even more the other contributors, note with concern an increase of clericalism among seminarians and younger priests. She recommends seminarians and lay ministers ought to be taught together the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for authentic collaboration, particularly as called for in Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord (USCCB, 2005). A focused approach in all levels of seminary formation is needed to achieve this goal, which should include ongoing faculty development. Finally, she recommends maintaining admission standards, despite the insufficient number of candidates. After the author, five more veteran seminary officials offer their recommendations on the needs of seminary formation. These include commentaries by religious order men and women, priests and laity. As a sociologist, Katarina Schuth offers a meticulously studied summary of the U.S. seminary system over the last fifty years in a succinct, accessible manner. The evaluations and recommendations offered in the final section make for the most interesting reading for those concerned for seminary life. The recommendations offered...

Moving from parent “consultant” to parent “collaborator”: one pediatric research team’s experience

We share our experiences as academic physical therapists and parents of young people with cerebral palsy working together as a research team, describe and critically review how our working relationship has evolved and propose further enhancements to realize our shared vision. This manuscript is informed by a call for “family-centered research,” transcripts of face-to-face meetings held over a period of 11/2 days, the INVOLVE document and our experiences over almost a decade, as well as other related literature. Authentic collaborative research partnerships between academic researchers and parents embodying trust, mutual respect and shared social responsibility take time and effort to develop and sustain. Rehabilitation research is more meaningful and may be more impactful when strong collaborative partnerships between researchers and health service users are in place.Implications for RehabilitationInvolving service users in rehabilitation research is important, but not without challenges.Attaining authentic collaboration requires face-to-face meetings, time, effort, and ongoing open communication.Research processes are superior and outcomes may be improved with service user involvement.Impact of research on rehabilitation practice is anticipated to be more meaningful with service user involvement.

Four Years Later: Rural Mothers' and Employers' Perspectives on Breastfeeding Barriers Following the Passage of the Affordable Care Act.

For the working rural mother, one key source of support for breastfeeding is the employer. The purpose of this article was to examine workplace barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding in a small rural American community following the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. We used a qualitative research design: semi-structured interviews with major employers and low-income working breastfeeding mothers, and a focus-group with another group of employed and unemployed breastfeeding low-income mothers. While some businesses accommodate breastfeeding mothers, few actively promote breastfeeding. Lack of compliance with the new law, inadequate breastfeeding information for mothers, and lack of support from co-workers and supervisors emerged as the main barriers to successful workplace breastfeeding. To improve workplace breastfeeding support significantly there is need for authentic collaboration among maternal-child and rural health agencies and businesses in creating breastfeeding-tolerant, flexible, and forward-looking work environments that, at a minimum, satisfy the law.

Drawing on What We Do as Readers

AbstractThe debate between content area and disciplinary literacy continues. Should content teachers adopt more general strategies, as often suggested by language arts teachers, or learn more discipline‐specific strategies? Neither choice positions content teachers as expert. In this inquiry, a team of middle school teachers uncovered their reading strategies in their disciplines and embedded the most useful ones in their classrooms. In this descriptive case study, field notes of team meetings, classroom observations, interviews of teachers and students, and student work samples were collected and analyzed. Results indicated that teachers were metacognitive and used both discipline‐specific and general strategies in their teaching. Learning was most powerful when the entire team collaborated to work on content connections and to give students specific ways to overcome confusion. Implications point to rethinking the divide between discipline‐specific and general strategies and promoting authentic collaboration of content area and language arts teachers.

An Institutional Process for Brokering Community-Campus Research Collaborations

Knowledge mobilization seeks to identify and support authentic research collaborations between community and university so that benefits of the research accrue to both partners. Knowledge brokering is a key knowledge mobilization mechanism that helps community and university partners connect and build relationships in order to share expertise for mutual opportunity. There remains a need to describe in detail the typical knowledge brokering devices and methodologies. This paper presents a detailed description of York University’s knowledge brokering service which is based on eight years of knowledge mobilization practice. The process is broken into 5 broad stages: 1) in progress; 2) no match; 3) match and no activity; 4) match and activity; 5) match and project. Stage 5 includes a step to identify the non-academic impacts of the collaborative research project. This process is illustrated using examples from York University’s practice in which a match was brokered for 82% of the 342 knowledge mobilization opportunities received between 2006-2014. York University partners with United Way York Region (UWYR) to create a regional approach to knowledge mobilization supports. This paper illustrates the impacts on community and university knowledge mobilization partners following the introduction of a community-based knowledge broker at UWYR.Â

Interdisciplinarity and nursing research: opportunities and challenges.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is widely recognized and considered essential for optimizing the development of knowledge and practice. However, interdisciplinarity is commonly accepted as an unquestioned good; rarely examined as both a source of benefit as well as difficulty for nursing and other disciplines. The aim of this article is to critically examine the opportunities and challenges that interdisciplinarity can provide for research in nursing and other disciplines. Based on a North American perspective, I describe the emergence of uni-disciplinary nursing research and the knowledge exchanges that occurred between nursing and other disciplines. I discuss the rise of interdisciplinary research, outline several examples of nursing participation in interdisciplinarity, and highlight the prominent benefits and difficulties associated with interdisciplinary research. I argue that authentic collaboration is required to conduct meaningful interdisciplinary research and describe how this can be promoted.

Decades of Preparation, but Only Moments to Respond: How Authentic Collaboration Saves Lives and Solves Problems

Decades of Preparation, but Only Moments to Respond: How Authentic Collaboration Saves Lives and Solves Problems

Mental Health and Poverty in Young Lives: Intersections and Directions

This paper provides a conceptual synthesis of literature that addresses intersections of mental health, poverty, and school. It is based on a research synthesis for the youth policy framework for Ontario, Stepping Stones. The paper addresses research on challenges involving income inequality, poverty, and mental health that impinge upon school, and examines the enduring ill effects of these issues and academic struggles on young lives. It suggests practices that show promise to support youth. Findings suggest that transitions through school involve multiple developmental negotiations and are a critical site of slippages and successes. The paper ends with a set of reflective questions around age out (of the child and youth services system), the need to address stigma by animating the abundant character of young lives (addressing the subtleties and nuances of the life stories, biographies, and narratives of young people and their communities), the need for authentic collaborations across health and education, and working with and for young people as they collectively and individually determine and negotiate their lives.

Systemic Transformation from the Ground–Up

The enduring existence of disproportionate representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in special education programs and disciplinary practices creates a double bind for educators, educational leaders, and families. Disproportionality is an adaptive systemic issue that is not under any entity’s control; thus, it demands collaboration and critical dialogue among local stakeholders. This article examined the implementation of Learning Lab, a new methodology of systemic transformation, for local stakeholders to collectively examine and address disproportionality in behavioral outcomes from the ground–up. Learning Lab aims to increase equity within the local implementations of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) by opening up decision-making and problem-solving processes with local stakeholders. Designed to increase authentic collaboration and dialogue among educators, families, and community-based organizations, Learning Lab offers the possibility of contextually fit, culturally responsive implementations of PBIS and building the capacity for forming adaptive and inclusive schools.

From me to we and back again: creating health system transformation through authentic collaboration within and beyond nursing.

More than 10 years after the Romanow Report (2002), other national reports continue to echo the call for change in health system design and delivery – specifically, the call for collaborative practice that responds to healthcare needs while attending to value, sustainability and improved outcomes. Despite increased financial investments in healthcare, Canada is lagging in its ability to provide care that promotes gains in health status (Health Council of Canada 2013). Why is this so? Is it because the care that is provided is disjointed? Or that care is organized and delivered in a way that meets providers’ needs rather than people’s needs? Or is it because the context in which healthcare providers are educated, and in which they work, has not evolved to support change? These are difficult questions to answer.

Placemaking and Social Equity: Expanding the Framework of Creative Placemaking

Artists play a seminal role in advancing humanity through place-based creative initiatives that change not only the aesthetics of place, but also the aesthetics of belonging. Creative placemaking initiatives should provide authentic opportunities for community members to express their relationship with their physical and social environment. Current models of creative placemaking are tethered to the built environment and urban revitalization. An expanded model of creative placemaking is needed to address the complexities of today's urban neighborhoods, a new model that develops places of belonging for the collective good; measures empowerment, cultural stewardship and community attachment as indicators of success; and is committed to addressing the root causes of social inequity through artist-led civic engagement activities. Artists develop arts-based initiatives that fully engage and empower a community's capacity to self-express their distinct cultural identity through place. Artists equipped with nimble entrepreneurial skills who are guided by a spirit of authentic collaboration can be significant change agents in their communities. Established and emerging creative practitioners will benefit from identifying cross-sector collaboration that expands the role of artistic life into civic life.

Intending to Meet: The Truth about Collaboration

Intending to Meet: The Truth about Collaboration

Collaborative Partnerships With Patients in Pediatric Progressive and Critical Care

Collaborative Partnerships With Patients in Pediatric Progressive and Critical Care

Community leaders' perspectives on engaging African Americans in biobanks and other human genetics initiatives.

There is limited information about what African Americans think about biobanks and the ethical questions surrounding them. Likewise, there is a gap in capacity to successfully enroll African Americans as biobank donors. The purposes of this community-based participatory study were to: (a) explore African Americans' perspectives on genetics/genomic research, (b) understand facilitators and barriers to participation in such studies, and (c) enlist their ideas about how to attract and sustain engagement of African Americans in genetics initiatives. As the first phase in a mixed methods study, we conducted four focus groups with 21 African American community leaders in one US Midwest city. The sample consisted of executive directors of community organizations and prominent community activists. Data were analyzed thematically. Skepticism about biomedical research and lack of trust characterized discussions about biomedical research and biobanks. The Tuskegee Untreated Syphilis Study and the Henrietta Lacks case influenced their desire to protect their community from harm and exploitation. Connections between genetics and family history made genetics/genomics research personal, pitting intrusion into private affairs against solutions. Participants also expressed concerns about ethical issues involved in genomics research, calling attention to how research had previously been conducted in their community. Participants hoped personalized medicine might bring health benefits to their people and proposed African American communities have a "seat at the table." They called for basic respect, authentic collaboration, bidirectional education, transparency and prerogative, and meaningful benefits and remuneration. Key to building trust and overcoming African Americans' trepidation and resistance to participation in biobanks are early and persistent engagement with the community, partnerships with community stakeholders to map research priorities, ethical conduct of research, and a guarantee of equitable distribution of benefits from genomics discoveries.

Collaborative Partnerships With Patients in Pediatric Progressive and Critical Care

Collaborative Partnerships With Patients in Pediatric Progressive and Critical Care

The quality of peer assessment in a wiki-based online context: a qualitative study

Peer assessment (PA) provides opportunities for authentic assessment, autonomy and collaboration. Several authors advocate that students can benefit from PA and put forward the effects of PA on the students’ learning outcomes. Questions concerning the validity and reliability of PA and PA competences are also addressed by different researchers. This qualitative study is part of a wider project that seeks to develop and test evaluation and assessment strategies in online contexts. In a doctoral module, PA was used for summative and formative purposes. Formative PA aimed to give feedback about the ongoing group work, but also to increase online interaction between the different groups of students. The main module task was to write a literature review, about a selected topic, using a wiki. Criteria and indicators to assess the literature review were negotiated with the students. Different criteria were used to assess the quality of PA, such as, the use of the negotiated criteria, the adequacy of the chosen vocabulary or the provision of constructive feedback. The results show that overall the quality of PA can be improved. Groups did not provide sufficient criticism, questions and suggestions for improvement.

The Influence of Management Practices on Authentic Collaboration with Educators

The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 paved the way for educational transformation. The main feature of this transformation involves a shift from managing via a bureaucratic model to a collaborative model. This has resulted in a proliferation of education legislation and policies underpinned by bureaucratic management practices such as accountability, rules and regulations, policies and procedures, hierarchical authority structures, division of labour and job specification. The South African Schools Act encourages principals and governing bodies to form collaborative partnerships with various educational institutions, academics, teachers and learners. However, in order to achieve authentic collaboration among teachers, management practices will need to place a greater emphasis in managing the school in less bureaucratic ways as this usually results in teachers collaborating in a contrived way. Contrived collaboration arises through administrative control, imposed on teachers regardless of their desires in order to secure the implementation of national or provincial legislation/policies or even school policies. Using a structured questionnaire, this research examines the perceptions of teachers on the association between management practices and authentic collaboration to predict which aspects of management practices foster such collaboration. A multiple regression analysis on management practices that enhance authentic collaboration shows that effective collaboration is promoted by management practices that promote harmonious interpersonal relationships among staff in a reciprocal relationship with authentic collaborative management practices. Authentic collaboration is impeded by espousing expected collaborative teaching practices, by management practices that emphasize task effectiveness as well as by the principals' perceived management style.

Inquiry into identity: Teaching critical thinking through a study of race, class, and gender

Students learn important lessons about themselves through the critical exploration of race, class, and gender.A group of African American boys sits in a circle surrounded by their white classmates. Akhil, an A student and star soccer player, describes being followed through the mall by a security guard. The other boys in the circle nod in recognition. They echo similar stories of clerks watching them in department stores and white women clutching their purses when they pass them on the street. They begin to share the routine dismissals of their integrity and intelligence woven through the fabric of their daily lives. They know they can expect to encounter racism. They all have been schooled at home in how to handle it. Trish, however, sitting quietly on the outside of the circle with her white friends, listening intently, is stunned. She had no idea. She thought racism went out in the sixties with the Civil Rights Movement. Later, the African American boys move to the outside circle, and the white girls move into the center. Now it's Trish's turn to talk about her experience. She's about to find out that she's not alone.In Inquiry into Identity: Race, Class, and Gender (RCG), an eighth grade social studies class, the students' stories serve as springboards for higher-order learning. Through sharing personal experiences and listening to one another respectfully, students form a learning community in which deep, critical thinking naturally emerges. They gain important insights about their own identities while learning about the lives of their classmates. They make important interpersonal connections that allow them to form alliances across divisions and think creatively, rather than stereotypically, about differences. When the students' experiences are the subject of shared reflection, learning becomes relevant, and engagement in school increases (Friere, 2000; Shor, 1992; Wink, 2005; Magolda, 1999).For my co-teacher, Oman Frame, and me, the course itself was a discovery. We originally set out to teach a course about climate change with a two-week introduction on race, class, and gender. However, our students were inspired by the unit and excited to have a forum for sharing their experiences. They asked us to expand the unit because they wanted to know more, and it became a semester-long and, eventually, a yearlong study. Other teachers began to adopt aspects of the course for their classes because our students talked so much about RCG. We realized, after the fact, that young adolescents live and breathe the politics of social justice every day-in the hallways at school; in their cyber networks; through exposure to media; in their families; in churches, mosques, and synagogues; and sometimes in their classrooms. We had inadvertently tapped into a wellspring of intellectual energy.RCG combines a variety of interpersonal learning activities (e.g., dialogues, Socratic seminars, fish bowls, social inventories, reflective writing and sharing) with inquiry-based learning (e.g., cycles of authentic questioning, research, group collaboration, project-based learning and presentations) (National School Reform Faculty, 2010; University of Illinois Inquiry Group, 2010). The interpersonal curriculum is complemented by academic inquiries into histories, politics, and cultures. Through a series of projects, supplemented by readings and films, students make connections between what they already know and the ways in which power and privilege operate in institutions like schools, religions, governments, and businesses. Throughout the course, they build important academic and communication skills.The course is divided into three main units: race, gender, and class. Each unit serves as a generative theme and follows a similar template. We introduce the course with a brainstorming session to uncover the questions that will guide our inquiries, asking What do you already know? and What do you want to know now? Then we move into a series of experiential learning activities, through which our students explore and share their social identities and family histories. …

Using Discipline-Based Professional Association Standards for Information Literacy Integration: A Review and Case Study

This article describes the outcome of a collaboration between a faculty member and a librarian to integrate information literacy into a graduate counseling psychology program. This collaboration used discipline-based standards from a professional association (the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision, ACES) to provide instructional goals, rather than utilizing the more traditional Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) standards. The authors discuss how using the discipline standards allows for a richer, more authentic collaboration, especially in a graduate program geared toward students who are already working in their field. Ultimately, using discipline standards could be a more effective way to promote information literacy in graduate and professional programs.