Collaboration to me has always been a scary word. It brings back visions of high school and university group projects where one person does all the work and actual collaboration is minimal. However, since starting my PME journey 18 months ago, I have found collaboration to be completely different.
My group finalized our effective intervention project today after our fourth Google Hangouts meeting. I found this project to be very exciting yet challenging. My group consisted of myself in Manitoba, Moira in Alberta, and Breanne in Egypt! The different locations and time zones required us to find a time to meet online when it wasn’t 3 in the morning for Breanne or during teaching time for Moira and myself. We found Saturday - 11:30 for me, 10:30 for Moira, and 6:30 PM for Breanne worked the best. We decided to create a Google Doc to share our ideas and build our project. We also video chatted through Google Hangouts and communicated frequently through Gmail. Our meetings were very efficient, usually about an hour and a half long. We were able to delegate tasks, share ideas, and build off of one another’s thoughts. All group members were engaged and 100% committed to the assignment. We shared responsibilities, thoroughly discussed ideas, and worked together to create a well-written finished product. There were still days where I felt nervous that pieces of the assignment wouldn’t get completed. The assignment was worth 35% of our final mark and we are trusting one another to do our best work and meet group deadlines so we can move forward together. For this assignment, my nervousness was not justified. Moira and Breanne were fantastic partners. I am truly grateful for this positive group work experience. This assignment has me thinking about technology’s role in collaboration. I think back to teaching 50 years ago. Teachers would have to rely on their school colleagues, they would have limited means of reaching out to teachers around the world. Technology now allows us to discuss, question, and share ideas with teachers we may never get the chance to meet in person. It’s a pretty amazing thing! Collaboration is much more than group work. It is gaining new information and ideas from those around you. Collaboration requires thoughtful communication and the building of knowledge. I hope I never stop collaborating and continue to learn from others. Collaboration allows our ideas to grow and hopefully develop into something real.
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November 2018
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