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Collaboration and Technology

Collaboration and Technology. Concluding Remarks By Stephen Downes ALT-C Manchester September 8. The View from G Level. The Mandate…. What was the point (I was asked) of being here at this conference? What was the point of coming together ?

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Collaboration and Technology

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  1. Collaboration and Technology Concluding Remarks By Stephen Downes ALT-C Manchester September 8

  2. The View from G Level

  3. The Mandate… • What was the point (I was asked) of being here at this conference? • What was the point of coming together? • Do we critically reflect on theory, practice, or do we merely reinforce our existing prejudices? • What do we take home?

  4. The Process… • Opening remarks… • Three days of short papers, research papers, posters, informal discussions • Summaries collected by the Chairs and passed on to me • This summary…

  5. The Terrain… • Institutional Collaboration • E-College Wales, Kingston College, JISC, CAMEL, League of European Research Universities • Learner Collaboration • Talk2Learn, UKeU+York, CABWeb, BOGLE, CALL • Teacher Collaboration • COLA repository, LAMS, Critical Writing Skills

  6. James Watt

  7. The Question… • Is there a technology of collaboration? • (as in the wider sense of ‘technology’) • Factors: trust, abilities, distance and infrastructure, funding… • Methodologies: process, analysis, collaboration types • Tools: Moodle WebCT, portals, conferencing, wikis…

  8. Presumptions (or Observations) • Size of group… small groups are better, large groups “too chaotic” (too much conversation) • Fixed (and short) duration • Structured (sometimes heavily structured) Contrast this with the concept of community…

  9. Cases in Point… • Designing and Realising Collaborative Student Activities on CABWEB • COLEG On Line Assessment Project • The Question: can collaboration be reduced to filling out fields in a form? • If not… • Why not, but more importantly… • Why would it be treated as if it could?

  10. The Collaborative Gene… • Terri Kinnison: “What characteristics does an organization or system possess (and display) at a particular stage of collaborative partnership? Is there a collective ‘style’ that determines what collaboration is possible?”

  11. A Question of Methodology? • Contrasting approaches to requirements gathering: • Barry Jones – build something and see what users do • Janet McCracken – close study of users’ current practices, plus interviews to explain • “Monolithic projects require monolithic methodology?” … ADDIE “Where was the creativity going to come from?”

  12. Canal Street

  13. A Question of Ontology? • Is there an essence of collaboration that can be understood independently of… • The players? • The technology? • Does what we are looking for reflect our theoretical stance? Do we need a theoretical stance? • Logical Positivist? Behaviourist? vs • Phenomenology? Critical Theory? Feminism?

  14. …Does Not Want to be Joined Up • Why we think collaboration is a good idea… various suggestions offered by authors (share resources, learn new perspectives, etc.) • Motivation… various motivations described included paying people, funding, grading people, funding, etc Disconnect between these two?

  15. This Conference… • An observation so common as to be hackneyed… once again, the vast majority of sessions were lectures • Why? (Let’s not simply assume that what we are doing is inherently dysfunctional, but rather, that there is a reason for this) • Contrast with the groans in the collaborative session – “We’re locking the doors”

  16. Chaos….

  17. You Are Free to Leave… • In my view, the question of collaboration is a question of governance • Parallel between collaboration theory and political theory, with descriptions ranging from authoritarianism to anarchy • Anarchy was universally considered ‘bad’ • Can there be ‘too much’ conversation’? • Are you free to leave?

  18. The Lecture… • May be the form that (counterintuitively) offers maximal freedom to the audience • And hence, may be favoured by learning professionals (at least in their own learning) because it preserves this degree of freedom • Contrast: learning design, LAMS, linear design….

  19. Two Theories of Collaboration • The essentialist theory… collaboration is based on some sort of sameness – same value, same outcome, same tool, same funding body … needs external motivation • The exchange theory… collaboration is based on interaction between autonomous and diverse entities … based on intrinsic motivation

  20. Cold Cures… • With this cure, you can cure a cold in only seven days, which left untreated would last as long as a week! • The question: would collaboration occur even if we did nothing? • And if so… is collaboration actually the objective of collaboration theory…

  21. www.downes.ca

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