30 Day Reflection: Collaboration--It's a Process

This is the 25th day in a 30 day challenge from Teach Thought.

Day 25: The ideal collaboration between students–what would it look like?

Collaboration is a process, not an event.  Therefore the process should be taught to students. Just because you put students (or adults, for that matter) in groups doesn't mean they know how to collaborate. Ideally, you should spend some time teaching students how to navigate disagreements, ask good questions, and listen to one another. They will need to take turns in each of the roles in a group: facilitator, task manager, timekeeper, recorder, and reporter. 

Students need to learn that collaboration is social, but very different from socializing. Collaboration should be product-driven. It should allow students freedom to create and make mistakes. Students should be given time to explore both the learning process and the subject matter. The end result of the group's work should be shared with a larger audience. It should have a mix of face-to-face and online work.

Finally, students should be given time to reflect on the collaborative experience. This allows them to use the thinking routines you have taught them in class. Also, for the groups where everything didn't go as planned, the time to reflect is important so that those students don't write off collaboration as a bad experience. It will be helpful for those groups to see how another group was successful.