Experience Of Collaborative Work Research Articles

From Presences to Linked Influences Within Communities of Inquiry

<p class="1">Much research has identified and confirmed the core elements of the well-known Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF): Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence (Garrison, 2011). The overlap of these Presences, their definitions and roles, and their subsequent impact on the educational experience, has received less attention. This article is prompted by the acceptance of that omission (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010). It proposes enrichment to the Framework, by entitling the overlapping spaces uniting pairs of Presences as “Influences.” These three spaces, linking pairings of Social, Teaching, and Cognitive Presences, can be labelled as “trusting,” “meaning-making,” and “deepening understanding.” Their contribution to the educational experience is to address constructively some of the challenges of online learning, including learner isolation, limited learner experience of collaborative group work and underdeveloped higher-level abilities. For these purposes we also envisage “cognitive maps” as supporting learners to assess progress to date and identify pathways forward (Garrison & Akyol, 2013). Such maps, developed by a course team, describe the territory that learners may wish to explore, signpost possible activities, and encourage the development of cognitive and interpersonal abilities required for online learning. We hope that considering the Influences may also assist tutor conceptualisations of online community-based learning. Our proposals call on both learners and tutors to conceive of the Presences and Influences as working together, in unison, to enhance the educational experience whilst fostering deep learning. Our suggestions are presented to stimulate scholarly debate about the potential of these interwoven sections, constructively extending the Framework.</p>

Evaluation of the Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners

Purpose: From 1996 to 2013, a 6-day Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners has been offered yearly in the United States. An evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the course on building public health capacity for physical activity and on shaping the physical activity and public health careers of fellows since taking the courses. Method: An evaluation quantified time that fellows spent in different course offerings and surveyed fellows. Results: From 1996 to 2012, 410 fellows attended the course, and in 2013, 186 participated in the Web-based survey (56% response rate). The number of fellows attending the course ranged from 15 to 33 yearly. From 1996 to 2012, the course averaged 38 hr of instructional time that included topics on interventions and environment/policy work to increase physical activity, program evaluation, public health research, and health disparities. The course included consultations, collaborative work, and field-based experiences. Fellows who participated in the survey agreed that the course had a positive impact on the physical activity research or practice work they did (98%), met their expectations (96%), helped them with research/practice collaborations with other physical activity professionals (96%), assisted them in conducting higher-quality interventions/programs (95%), helped increase their professional networking in the field (93%), and had a positive impact on other work they did (91%). Following the course, 66% and 56% had further contact with faculty and other fellows, respectively. Conclusion: The Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners made important contributions toward building the capacity of physical activity and public health practitioners.

Dental Students’ Perceived Value of Peer‐Mentoring Clinical Leadership Experiences

This pilot study compared second- and fourth-year dental students' perceived values of newly implemented clinical leadership experiences (CLEs) at one U.S. dental school during the 2012-13 academic year. In the CLEs, fourth-year (D4) students mentored second-year (D2) dental students during faculty-supervised patient treatment. The two cohorts' perceived value of the experiences was measured with questionnaires consisting of five-point Likert scale questions and open text responses. Out of a total of 114 D2 and 109 D4 students, 46 D2 students and 35 D4 students participated (response rates of 40.4% and 32.1%, respectively). While responses from both cohorts showed they highly valued the CLEs, the D2s perceived greater value: 4.07 (0.53) v. 3.51 (0.95), p<0.003. Both cohorts reported feeling that D4s were prepared to mentor D2s, that the CLEs had educational benefits, and that the CLEs increased their comfort with peer communication. Theme analysis of open text questions revealed that the respondents perceived the D4s were more accessible than faculty and provided guidance and individual attention; the CLEs increased student comfort; the CLEs reinforced D4 skills, knowledge, and confidence; and the CLEs provided management, leadership, and collaborative work experience. Theme analysis also highlighted student concerns about a lack of program structure. Overall, the majority of both groups valued CLEs in their dental education. Particular advantages they perceived were increased comfort, guidance, and attention. Further program development should address student concerns. These results suggest that similar programs should be considered and/or expanded in other dental schools' curricula.

Students’ Attitudes Towards Collaborative Tools In A Virtual Learning Environment

The purpose of this study is to investigate prep class university students’ attitudes towards collaborative tools used in Moodle. Also it was aimed to find out whether or not there is a difference in students’ attitudes towards traditional and collaborative activities. The participants of the study, 28 non-English major university students, who had three-hours of Self Access Centre lessons per week, used a virtual learning environment named ‘Moodle’ for two hours each week. In order to investigate the attitudes, the participants were administered a computer readiness scale at the beginning of the study. At the end, a questionnaire was administered, and to support the data, screenshots of the activities were taken and twelve participants were interviewed. Results show that the collaborative tools in the virtual learning environment have significant positive effects according to the participants’ opinions. The students have significantly positive attitudes towards the collaborative tools, although they have not had enough experience of collaborative work. Also the students do not reflect positive attitudes towards traditional activities and, accordingly do not use them much.

Factors of Good Collaboration in Home-Based End-of-Life Care: A Questionnaire Survey of Japanese Home Care Nurses, Home Helpers, and Care Managers.

Good interprofessional work (IPW) is essential to provide quality home-based end-of-life (EOL) care. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors of "good collaboration," as evaluated separately by home care nurses (HNs), home helpers (HHs), and care managers (CMs). The relationship was examined between their evaluation of good collaboration and their recent actual experience of interprofessional collaborative work for a home-based EOL case. The questionnaire was returned nationwide by 378 HNs, 305 HHs, and 476 CMs, and data were collected on 177 EOL cases from HNs, 84 cases from HHs, and 123 cases from CMs. Evaluation of good collaboration by HNs was associated with working with a CM with whom they had multiple collaborative experiences, the client being independent for their toileting until just before dying, and sharing information regarding the client's EOL decision with an HH 1 month before dying. Evaluation of good collaboration by HHs was associated with working at an agency that collaborated with fewer CM agencies and working at an agency that allowed staff to visit dying clients. Evaluation of good collaboration by CMs was associated only with the client being dependent for toileting. Our results highlighted the characteristics of how each professional seeks to collaborate depending on their preparedness, contexts, and resultant expectations toward other professionals when entering the IPW for home-based EOL care. To promote good IPW for home-based EOL care further, professionals need to understand these differences among ourselves and try to meet others' expectations.

Exploration of collaborative interaction in high education

This paper discusses an exploratory way, the experience of collaborative work applied to a group of students of the subject Information Systems and Knowledge Society, corresponding to the degree in Advertising and Public Relations at the Universidad Veracruzana. The objective is to determine the degree of collaborative interaction among students, to develop educational activities through digital web 2.0 tools. To this end, a joint study using techniques of social network analysis (SNA) and content analysis to records of interventions performed. Based on the data obtained, the visual representation of the interactions of the participants and the keywords with the greatest presence was generated. Finally located the findings from the results of the degree of centrality, and closeness intermediation obtained show that the construction of the links established in the group lead to a favorable development in the interaction of online collaboration.

Case Study on Collaborative Work Experiences with Web 2.0 in Spanish Primary Schools with the Highest Institutional Accreditation Level

ICT constitutes a suitable tool for the generation of joint communicative spaces where manifold variables may converge and a wide range of methodologies and strategies can be activated, thus fostering richer levels of interaction and swift communication between its users. This case describes and analyses the collaborative work experiences with ICT that are being implemented in the third cycle of Primary Education in schools located in north-western Spain (Region of Castile and León). The results evince that teachers hold a positive view once they have used such technology-based approaches, although they demand a better provision of infrastructures and more institutional support, including specific aids for life-long learning schemes. Conclusions of this study have been drawn both to help and to offer some guidance to teachers engaged in innovative, collaborative, and technologically-assisted curricular processes within 2.0 school settings.

Teachers’ collaborative activity in school-wide interventions

Despite the strong interest in research about collaboration among teachers, there are few longitudinal studies that have investigated improvements in collaborative activity among teachers through school-wide interventions. Drawing on data from a larger study, this article describes improvements in collaborative activity among 900 teachers at 28 Norwegian schools. The schools participated in two interventions aiming to strengthen classroom management and to prevent and reduce problem behavior. Collaborative activity was a main implementation strategy in both interventions. The impacts of both school- and teacher-level factors were investigated through latent multilevel growth curve models. Although the results indicated that teachers in both interventions improved in collaborative activity, the teachers who participated in one of the interventions improved more than teachers in the other. The teacher- and school-level factors perceived learning environment, initial collaborative activity, work experience and intervention were associated with baseline and/or growth rate results.

Pós-Graduação em Educação e Universidade: reflexões sobre solidariedade e compromisso social. Análise de uma experiência entre a UFPel e a Unisinos (Projeto Casadinhos)

O texto tem o objetivo de expor e refletir uma experiênciade trabalho colaborativo entre duas universidades brasileiras, aUniversidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel) e a Universidade do Vale do Riodos Sinos (Unisinos), por meio de seus programas de pós-graduaçãoem Educação. O trabalho aqui analisado foi desenvolvido por meio doProjeto Casadinhos: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal deNível Superior (Capes)/Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado doRio Grande do Sul (Fapergs), na perspectiva de viabilizar uma relaçãomais sistemática e orgânica entre um programa consolidado (Unisinos)e um programa em consolidação (UFPel). Além de retomar o projeto eapontar para breve análise das atividades e da produção que resultaramdo projeto, os autores intentam refletir a pós-graduação stricto sensue sua relação com a natureza do trabalho da universidade. O textosugere que há motivos que justificam a dedicação de significativonúmero de docentes à pós-graduação, buscando, solidariamente, pôra serviço da sociedade o que resulta de tal investimento. O destaque,portanto, é para a inserção social dos programas de pós-graduaçãoe, por consequência, a relação com a pesquisa e a produção doconhecimento.

The Pictor Technique

Collaborative working is a crucial part of contemporary health and social care. Researching the experiences of those involved--as professionals, patients, or carers--is challenging, given the complexity of many cases and the taken-for-granted nature of roles and identities in relation to it. In this article we introduce the Pictor technique for exploring experiences of collaborative working. This is a visual technique in which participants construct a representation of roles and relationships in a particular case using arrow-shaped adhesive notes or cards. The chart so produced helps the participant tell the story of his or her experience and serves as a focus for further exploration with the researcher. We describe the background to Pictor and illustrate its use with professionals, patients, and carers, drawing on recent and current research. We examine how Pictor relates to other visual methods, and conclude by considering how the technique might be developed in the future.

Educación y biblioteca, una revista profesional particular

The journal Educacion y biblioteca (Education and the library) accompanied the Spanish public libraries in the great change that took place over three decades. Since the late 80s of the 20th century, Spanish libraries have undergone a process of modernization and engagement with their audiences. Educacion y biblioteca encouraged these changes and brought together a stream of librarianship committed to social action by libraries, public service values and the democratization of culture. During its existence, Educacion y biblioteca was open to all librarians, who used it as a forum to discuss projects and share best practices. As a private and independent project it offered a collaborative work experience and networking.

Acts of Construction: The Conditions of Collaboration. A Response to Vassiliki Papatsiba

This response to Vassiliki Papatsiba's article on collaboration draws attention to structural barriers to collaborative research: for example, increased competition for scarce resources, increased steering of research, and the casualisation of research workers. It draws on experience of collaborative work in a large, EU-funded project to illustrate some of these factors and their effects.

A Structured Approach for Designing Collaboration Experiences for Virtual Worlds

While 3D virtual worlds are more frequently being used as interactive environments for collaboration, there is still no structured approach developed specifically for the combined design of 3D virtual environments and the collaborative activities in them. We argue that formalizing both the structural elements of virtual worlds and aspects of collaborative work or collaborative learning helps to develop fruitful collaborative work and learning experiences. As such, we present the avatar-based collaboration framework (ABC framework). Based on semiotics theory, the framework puts the collaborating groups into the center of the design and emphasizes the use of distinct features of 3D virtual worlds for use in collaborative learning environments and activities. In developing the framework, we have drawn from best practices in instructional design and game design, research in HCI, and findings and observations from our own empirical research that investigates collaboration patterns in virtual worlds. Along with the framework, we present a case study of its first application for a global collaborative learning project. This paper particularly addresses virtual world designers, educators, meeting facilitators, and other practitioners by thoroughly describing the process of creating rich collaboration and collaborative learning experiences for virtual worlds with the ABC framework.

A seamless partnership? Developing mixed economy interventions in a non-custodial project for women

The movement towards localism, partnerships and governing ‘networks’ has renewed academic interest in the voluntary sector role in multi-agency work in criminal justice fields. This article argues that strategic partnerships which service systems for managing offenders are organizing into more complex formations which are poised to alter academic understanding of power relationships and roles among partners. Using Adelbart Evers’ (2005) concept of ‘hybridization’, the complexity of service delivery partnerships and the varying interchanges among participating agencies is discussed. The analysis focuses on the start-up and first year of operation of the ‘Chestnut Centre’, a community-based project for diverting women from custody based in a city in the midlands of England. The results are presented as a case study of participants’ reflections on power and legitimacy in the partnership; experiences of collaborative working; approaches towards service users; and perceptions of multi-agency partnerships.

Imagining and engaging difference in the art museum

This article focuses on power, difference and knowledge, areas critical to adult education. It conveys insights into how educators and curators in an art museum imagined and engaged with difference, and particularly the black subject, when working within a collaborative project that included the acquisition of art objects (fine art photography). The article utilises material drawn from an ethnographic research project that included a case study based on an 18-month participant-observation of an evolving partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the Black Cultural Archives (BCA), in London, UK. The case offers a snapshot of the tensions involved in educators and curators seeking to imagine and engage difference in the art museum. The case provides evidence of the lived experience of collaborative work and the challenges involved in negotiating issues of difference in multiple contexts: across organisational cultures, when imagining audiences, and in the representation of the black subject within photographs.

Wikibooks and Wikibookians: Loosely Coupled Community or a Choice for Future Textbooks?

This study was conducted to better understand Wikibookian apprenticeship and identity as well as the environment or community they operate in. Our initial study explored the basic demographics, purpose and goals, ownership, collaborative work experiences, successes and failures, and advantages and disadvantages of wikibooks. Those initial results revealed interesting issues related to the Wikibookian community and practices within the Wikibooks website. The survey data of this second of a two-part study suggested that while there is a unique sense of community among Wikibookians, most members work independently and without direct guidance or apprenticeship from other more experienced Wikibookians. We conclude that Wikibooks is not a social-networking site where people share profile pictures and make friends. Nevertheless, many Wikibookians do not have difficulties in communicating with other Wikibookians or in contributing to Wikibooks. In addition, this is an open educational environment where sharing knowledge is the primary goal.

Convergence and divergence: examining perceptions of Chinese and expatriate project implementers on cross‐cultural teacher training programmes

This article reports on a study of perceptions of Chinese and expatriate personnel on a Sino‐British English teacher training programmme on a range of issues with regard to the programme. Semi‐structured one‐to‐one interviews were conducted to gather information from 17 Chinese and three British project participants. It was found that there existed convergences and divergences in the two sides’ views. This article argues that the convergences may have been induced by the project implementers’ collaborative work experience on the programme and the advantages of the top‐down approach adopted for this programme, whilst the divergences may have been caused by cultural differences, the lack of communication between the two sides, and the drawbacks of the top‐down approach. This study suggests that perception gaps can occur between local and expatriate personnel and that it is necessary for both sides to adapt to and support each other in order to enhance mutual understanding and collaboration.

Let’s Talk about “Us”

In this article, we reflect on our experiences of collaborative working in a cross-cultural research team. We reflexively interrogate the construction of the univocal “we” that is expressed in our dissemination of the research findings. We show how cross-cultural collaborative research brings into sharp relief underlying complex culturally and theoretically determined patterns of thinking within the research team that may otherwise remain unquestioned. We conclude by considering the power dynamics within collaborative research, arguing for greater critical reflection by research members at all stages of the research engagement.

Collaboration in Foundation Degree provision: a case study in Kent

Health and Social Care Foundation Degree (FD HSC) development commenced at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) in 2005: the university already had a variety of validated programmes of this design, thus this new provision was able to draw on expertise of proven worth in the local economy. Over the past two years this programme has expanded from the initial collaboration with a Kent employer in the private (charity) sector to include provision in twelve distinct health and social care (HSC) employment areas. This article, using a case‐study approach, aims to share experiences of collaborative working with employers and further education (FE) providers in designing and delivering Foundation Degrees (FD) in Kent. Given the nature of FDs in meeting the needs of employers, although they all share the philosophy of focus to the workplace, these workplaces will always be unique.

Excellence in Virtual Education

It is a fact that the notion of education has been changing over the last years, mainly because of information and communication technologies (ICTs). In this globalized world, we are swamped by information, and the key issue is to surf it and choose the appropriate bit. This wealth of information, and the need of constantly updating knowledge in order to carry out our work in the way we are demanded to by society, turn learning into lifelong self-training. This article aims to present the experience of collaborative work in a virtual learning scenario held by the University of Salamanca, Clay Formación Internacional, and Asociación Logo in the continuing education and specialist course Technologies and networked training methodologies: Tutor online. Being former students, now we belong to the tutor and scientific team. The Tutor online project (TOL) is an instance of how to widespread quality continuing education and smooth away the access to it. Its asynchronous nature allows each individual to adapt it to their own particular time and space needs.