Blog Assignment 3: Community & Collaboration

This week I have learned A LOT about collaboration. We read about the Stages of collaboration, tools for collaboration and challanges one might have in a collaborative setting.

Stages of Collaboration-
Set the stage- Set clear guidelines for completing the project Make sure students are comfortable with the technology that is needed.
Create the environment- Students need to know where to meet their peers. (Discussion board, wiki, etc.)
Model the process- Set an example of collaboration behavior.
Guide the process- Just because the instructor has model the activity, does not mean their job is complete. They must continue to stay involved with the process and give the students the confidence they need to move forward.
Evaluate the process- It is important to include some form of evaluation in an collaborative activity because it allows the instructor to gain insight into whether the learning objectives of the activity were met.

Tools for Collaboration-
Explanations for Teams- Students are sometimes worried about completing collaborative assignments because other students might not pull their load. It is important to have it step where each student has the same amount of work needed to complete the assignment and if one does not do their part, it wil not affect the other students grade.
Guidelines and Expectations- Guidelines help set the stage for students. With guidelines, students will know exactly what is expected of them so they will have confidence to complete the assignment.
Agreements- A team charter serves as an agreement or contract among members, outlining how they will interact together, determining the roles each member will play in the activity and creating benchmarks and deadlines for the completion of the work.
Buy-in- The group members form a contract for their activity, should a member not fulfill that agreement, it then becomes the responsibility of the instructor to follow up with that student and remind them of the agreed-upon responsibilities and tasks.

Collaboration Challenges-
Participation- Like stated before, it is important to get all the student to participate in the collaborative activity. There will be times when you will have that student that does not want to put out as much work as everyone else. This is when you intervene and remind them of their responsibilities.
Leadership and Decision Making- This will be different in every group. There is always one that wants to take charge and make all the decisions. Every now and then, there is a possibility for conflict between the group.
Cultural Differences- A few challenges you might have is- different communication styles, different attitudes toward conflict, different approaches to completing tasks, different decision-making styles, different attitudes towards disclosure and different approaches to knowing.


When assessing the students in a collaboration assignment, it id important for the students to know what exactly was expected of them. Using learner-centered assessments- self assessment is a great way for the instructor to get great feedback. Using rubrics is a great way for students to know exactly how their final grade was figured up. Students would also have this at the beginning of a project so they would know the expectations of them.   
The information that we were required to read in this module was VERY helpful in learning about collaboration!