Collective Responsibility For Learning And Education. ... The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy refers to collective responsibility as a shared responsibility (Smiley, 2005).
My pondering questions:
What could this look like?
What could this feel like?
What could this sound like?
What grows collective responsibility?
What stifles collective responsibility?
Karyn Gray refers in her blog post Compliance and Complacency and Culture
(Tuesday, August 28, 2018)
'True collaboration is about building a culture where everyone on a team is working towards the same vision and everyone on the team is prepared to hold everyone else in the team to that vision. It's about building more, and better, together than you could possibly do by yourself.' I perceive collective responsibility to be the verb to allow this happen. Everyone sharing the responsibility to allow collaboration to be at its truest and strongest from.'
Questioning my thinking I asked google: Could/is collective responsibility, a necessity for collaboration to occur? This sourced....
Teaching and learning are both collaborative processes. Collaboration benefits teaching and learning when it occurs on several levels: when students, teachers, family members, and the community collectively prioritize education and engage in activities that support local schools, educators, and students; when educators collaborate with their colleagues to support innovative classroom practices and set high expectations for themselves and their students; and when students are given opportunities to work together toward academic goals in ways that enhance learning. Research Summary Collaborative learning is an approach to teaching and learning that requires learners to work together to deliberate, discuss, and create meaning. Smith and MacGregor (1992) define the term as follows:
“Collaborative learning” is an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together. Usually, students are working in groups of two or more, mutually searching for understanding, solutions, or meanings, or creating a product. Collaborative learning activities vary widely, but most center on students’ exploration or application of the course material, not simply the teacher’s presentation or explication of it. (p. 1)
Collaborative learning has been practiced and studied since the early 1900s. The principles are based on the theories of John Dewey (2009), Lev Vygotsky (1980), and Benjamin Bloom (1956). Their collective work focusing on how students learn has led educators to develop more student-focused learning environments that put students at the center of instruction. Vygotsky specifically stated that learning is a social act and must not be done in isolation. This principle is the foundation of collaborative learning.
The research of Vygotsky (1980) and Jerome Bruner (1985) indicates that collaborative learning environments are one of the necessities for learning. Slavin’s (1989) research also suggests that students and teachers learn more, are more engaged, and feel like they get more out of their classes when working in a collaborative environment. Totten, Sills, Digby, and Russ (1991) found that those involved in collaborative learning understand content at deeper levels and have higher rates of achievement and retention than learners who work alone. They suggest that collaborative learning gives students opportunities to internalize their learning.
A meta-analysis from the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota concluded that having students work collaboratively has significantly more impact on learning than having students work alone (Johnson, Maruyama, Johnson, Nelson, & Skon, 1981). An analysis of 122 studies on cooperative learning revealed:
• More students learn more material when they work together— talking through the material with each other and making sure that all group members understand—than when students compete with one another or work alone individualistically.
• More students are motivated to learn the material when they work together than when students compete or work alone individualistically (and the motivation tends to be more intrinsic).
• Students have more positive attitudes when they work together than when they compete or work alone individualistically.
• Students are more positive about the subject being studied, the teacher, and themselves as learners in that class and are more accepting of each other (male or female, handicapped or not, bright or struggling, or from different ethnic backgrounds) when they work together.
Collaboration can be between teachers, between students, and between teacher and student.
Teacher-Teacher Collaboration It is critical for teachers to have the time to collaborate. Professional learning communities, which provide teachers with established time to collaborate with other teachers, have become a more common practice in recent years. Louis and Kruse (1995) conducted a case study analysis that highlighted some of the positive outcomes associated with professional learning communities, including a reduction in teacher isolation, increases in teacher commitment and sense of shared responsibility, and a better understanding of effective instructional practices. Professional learning communities encourage collaborative problem solving and allow teachers to gain new strategies and skills to improve and energize their teaching and classrooms.
Another example of teacher-to-teacher collaboration is lesson study. This professional development process began in Japan. Lesson study is a collaborative approach to designing and studying classroom lessons and practice. The most critical components of lesson study are observation of the lesson, collection of data about teaching and learning, and a collaborative analysis of the data to further impact instruction (Lewis, 2002; Lewis & Tsuchida, 1998; Wang-Iverson & Yoshida, 2005). Some of these characteristics are similar to other forms of professional development—analyzing student work, cognitive coaching, and action research, to name a few—but the fact that it focuses on teachers observing a live lesson that was collaboratively developed is different than any other form of professional development. Lesson study is a way for teachers to work together, collect data, and analyze data to reflect on teaching and learning (Lewis, 2002).
Student-Student Collaboration Collaborative learning not only allows students to engage deeply with content but also helps students build the interpersonal skills needed to be successful in college and careers. Johnson, Johnson, and Holubec (1993) state that collaborative learning provides students with the opportunity to develop social skills. They found that many of the outcomes expected as part of a collaborative learning activity corresponded with goals for student content understanding and skill attainment. The strategies associated with collaborative learning—such as role assignments, collaborative problem solving, and task and group processing—all build the social skills that students need to be successful when working with others. Additionally, these skills are important in preparing students for the world of work, where collaborative writing and problem-solving are key elements of many careers.
There is a plethora of instructional and learning strategies that encourage student collaboration, including peer teaching, peer learning, reciprocal learning, team learning, study circles, study groups, and work groups, to name just a few (Johnson & Johnson, 1986). Collaborative inquiry, which combines many of the elements of student collaboration just mentioned, is a research-based strategy in which learners work together through various phases “of planning, reflection, and action as they explore an issue or question of importance to the group” (Goodnough, 2005 88). Collaborative inquiry brings together many perspectives to solve a problem, engaging students in relevant learning around an authentic question. It allows students to work together toward a common purpose to explore, make meaning, and understand the world around them (Lee & Smagorinsky, 2000).
Teacher-Student Collaboration The purpose for collaboration in an educational setting is to learn and unpack content together to develop a shared understanding. HardingSmith (1993) points out that collaborative learning approaches are based on the idea that learning must be a social act. It is through interaction that learning occurs. Johnson and Johnson (1986) similarly emphasize that when students and teachers talk and listen to each other, they gain a deeper understanding of the content and can develop the skills necessary to negotiate meaning throughout their lives.
Collaboration requires a shift from teacher-led instruction to instruction and learning that is designed by both teachers and students. Collaboration between student and teacher plays a critical role in helping students reflect and engage in their own learning experiences. The constructivist learning movement is one current example of efforts to increase the amount of collaboration between student and teacher occurring in the classroom. Mayer (2004) defines constructivist learning as an “active process in which learners are active sense makers who seek to build coherent and organized knowledge” (p. 14). Students coconstruct their learning, with the teacher serving as a guide or facilitator. The teacher does not function in a purely didactic (i.e., lecturing) role. Neo and Neo (2009) found that constructivism helps students develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and creative skills and apply them in meaningful ways.
Probing Questions
• How can you use collaborative learning processes to engage students in their learning?
• How might you create space for teacher-teacher collaboration within your context?
