Below you'll find the definition of Collaboration as determined by the two teams from the April 1 meeting along with ideas about how that capability might translate to the workplace, higher education and community life.
After taking a moment to review the definitions, respond to the following questions:
- How important might this capability be for SPS students?
- What might be the implications if we don’t explicitlyaddress the capability through curriculum, instruction, and assessment, i.e., if we maintain the status quo?
Team G Description/Definition: Recognizing and utilizing individual strengths by engaging in productive conversations working toward a common goal.
Team H Description/Definition: Utilizing appropriate social skills to share with diverse groups, resulting in a positive outcome.
What might this capability look like in business or the workplace?
Team G
• Ability to contribute to a project
• Agenda, mission, vision, norms
• Avoiding “Group think”
• Commitment to norms
• Efficacy
• Electronic participation
• Formal or planned (scheduled)
• If in marketing, being able to sell your product and decide how to do that
• More effective, efficient use of time
• Networking skills-emotional intelligence
• Norms of dialogue and discussion
• People together in a group
• Product team
• Self awareness
• Sharing responsibility
• Social graces
• Strength finder
• Talking
Team H
• Are all outcomes positive?
• Collaborating with different stakeholders to produce most effective produce or resource
• Collective problem solving
• Communication, listening and speaking, problem solving with each other
• Decision making
• Efficient and effective use of resources
• Gathering input/feedback to improve
• Mutual goal
• Utilizing various media (i.e. global communication), teleconferencing
• Variety of departments working together
• Working together to produce a high-quality outcome
• Working with partnering businesses, cross promotions, etc.
What might this capability look like in higher education?
Team G
• Ability to define agreement
• Agenda
• Consciousness
• Cooperation and tolerance
• Electronic participation
• Formal or planned (scheduled)
• Groups
• High craftsmanship
• Increased focus
• Interdependence
• Open mindedness
• Talking
Team H
• Sharing ideas to enhance the learning experience
• Students working together on a project
• Cooperative learning projects
• Teacher-student relationships to increase education
• Collaboration between all 3 stakeholders
What might this capability look like in the community or life experience?
Team G
• Ability to get along with others
• Be open minded
• Coalition building
• Groups
• Impromptu
• Leveraging resources
• Public/private partnerships
• Social networking
• Social or functional
• Talking
Team H
• Scheduling
• Political issues
• Town hall meetings
• Church meetings
• Neighborhood alliances
• A snowball effect community and global outreach
• Planning event; funeral, wedding, holiday, medical, and education
Teaching of collaboration skills is critical for the holonomous development of our SPS students. Proficiency in collaboration skills is a determining factor in the success of the individual and any group that individual is a part of.
ReplyDeleteFailure to teach and expect collaboration skills marginalizes the development of our students. Their potential for success diminishes as they enter a flattened world workforce that expects individuals to work collectively to accomplish goals.
The Kagan Group states that the number one reason that people are "let go" from jobs is that the individual fails to work collaboratively with colleagues. Without practice in collaborative/cooperative experiences in our classrooms, our students will be ill equipped to stayed employed in so many of the 21st Century jobs. Future job statistics focus on the service industry and that requires collaborative skills, whether it is discussing a new product with a potential buyer, medical information with a patient, or providing some service to a customer. Students in Springfield Public Schools are fortunate that the district is examining new methods of delivering content with a process that involves collaboration. Cooperative Learning strategies in classrooms is research solid to support student learning and remembering the information, but it also provides an atmosphere to listen, learn, and gather new ideas from old ones through collaborative discussions, questioning and processing. It is vital that the process of collaboration be a highlight of future professional development for our staff, and the implementation of this in our classrooms. Ann W.
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