Designing Courses to Develop (Online) Teamworking Skills: A Helical Model Stanley J Oldfield & David Morse Department of Computing The UK Open University

Overview Online collaboration The need for models Existing models A new model Implications of the model Conclusions

Online Collaboration Computer Mediated Interaction (CMI) is probably the most radical innovative aspect of technology enhanced learning Students experience of CMI needs to be planned, structured and monitored over the whole of their degree programme Students collaborative skills and understanding need to be progressively developed over their degree programme

Contributory Conversational Cooperative Collaborative Cumulative Levels of Interaction There needs to be a structured, managed and monitored progression through these increasingly complex levels of interaction

The need for models We need a framework for thinking about the progression through these levels of interaction Models can provide visual images or metaphors to assist us in understanding the underlying interactive learning process Models can provide vehicles for discussing the nature and sequence of the activities to be undertaken in this process

Existing models Salmon s online learning model Kolb s experiential learning model Boehm s software process model Tuckman s small group development model Bruner s spiral curriculum

Stage 5: Development Stage 4: Salmon s five-stage model for e-learning and e-moderating Knowledge Construction Stage 3: Information Exchange Stage 2: Online Socialisation Stage 1: Access and Motivation Proposed for collaborative online teaching and learning situations Represents progress through any online, collaborative learning experience (e-activity) Focuses on learning through collaboration, not about collaboration No concept of increasing levels of complexity

Kolb s experiential learning model The classic cyclical model for the learning process Dewey: Experience + Reflection = Learning A continuous loop, with reflection on the knowledge gained rather than on the learning process itself

Boehm s software process model Represents the iterative nature of the software development process Each cycle around the axis represents a phase of the process Incremental activity relates to development of the product rather than of the process

Tuckman s small group development Stage 5: Adjourning Stage 4: Performing Stage 3: Norming Stage 2: Storming Stage 1: Forming model Is specific to collaboration in small groups or teams Is presented as a linear process - although in practice there is some overlap between stages, and iteration within stages Covers a single experience of working together, with no element of carry-over to subsequent activities

The need for a new model Bruner s Spiral curriculum argues for education as a process with structure, sequence and reinforcement Any learning and skills development that takes place in one activity needs to be demonstrated by its re-use in another related, and possibly more complex, task What all the models discussed earlier lack is a sense of development,, building on reflective analysis of earlier experiences of collaboration We need a new model which explicitly captures and incorporates this developmental dimension

A Helical Model: 1 Our initial concern is to visualize the iterative sequence of activities taking place within any major collaborative experience, including an element of reflection We can modify Kolb s model to represent the essential elements of collaboration

A Helical Model: 2 Our other major concern is to visualize the essential incremental, developmental dimension of students collaborative experiences over time and over a succession of activities / courses For this purpose we can use a helix to represent development

A Helical Model: 3 Combining these two concepts, of an iterative cycle and incremental development, gives us a new, helical model for (online) collaboration The knowledge, skills and behaviours acquired in one cycle need to be explicitly applied and developed in subsequent cycles

Implications of the model The issue of reflection is explicitly addressed in the Debrief stage of each cycle, and sets up the starting conditions for the next cycle Students can visualise the nature and sequence of the activities they are expected to undertake Tutors can visualise where in the spiral their students are currently active, and can frame their interventions and feedback more appropriately

Implications of the model In terms of course content, simple collaborative tasks can be designed around a single cycle of the spiral More extended collaborative tasks can be designed around several cycles of increasing complexity (in terms of activities, interactions, tools, deliverables and assessment) with reflection at the end of each cycle The total student experience of collaboration over a degree programme can be planned and delivered as a sequence of increasingly sophisticated tasks designed around several cycles

Conclusions Understanding the nature of collaboration, and acquiring the appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours, is an essential aspect of modern education The student experience of collaboration needs to be developed over time, not only within a single course but across their whole programme of study Our model provides an explicit visual representation of this developmental dimension, which can assist in the design, development and delivery of collaborative elements in any course or programme

Acknowledgement From October 2005 to September 2007 Stanley Oldfield has been working as a Teaching Fellow with one of the UK Open University s HEFCE funded Centres of Excellence for Teaching and Learning on a project entitled Building Effective Student Teams