This post was originally published as: ETL523 Assessment 2 Part C: Reflective Blog Post

While completing the collaborative Digital Citizenship Learning Module [DCLM] I engaged in new learning about: process, content, and tools. Thus I have published my reflections about the DCLM in 4 parts: 

Part 1: Learning About Process- “Good Enough” Research

Part 2: Learning About Content

Part 3: Learning About Tools

Part 4: Learning About Process- Online Global Collaboration

I will comment on three areas from the Norms of Online Global Collaboration (Flat Connections, 2017) that were significant to my group’s collaborative process. I also suggest an additional collaboration norm which would strengthen the process.

1. Be prepared. While we were all prepared to discuss content and to share ideas, we did not plan ahead of time which tool we would use for our first two “live” meetings, resulting in them starting 10-30 minutes later than scheduled. Agreeing on a tool that we all knew how to use before the meetings would have saved time and frustration.
2. Be able to paraphrase. In three out of four of our synchronous meetings, one group member was not able to attend. So one of the other group members emailed a summary of the meeting for the absent member. Seeing these notes on our meetings was an excellent way to know if we had understood each other’s ideas, provided the opportunity for clarification, and documented a plan for moving forwards.
3. Be positive. Despite our struggles to connect during the first two meetings, we all started with a friendly, positive attitude and got straight to work. When giving feedback on each other’s work, we gave compliments and acknowledged each others’ efforts before giving suggestions.

Being positive helped me when I was feeling frustrated in the last week before we submitted our work. I was ready to start an email to my team about their lack of communication when I reframed my thinking by “presuming positive intentions” (Center for Adaptive Schools, n.d.). Instead of starting my email with a complaint I shared my struggles: “I’ve been working on (struggling with!) my artifact and have come to a ‘good enough’ place” (personal communication, April 18, 2019). Being positive had the effect of establishing common ground; another group member was also having trouble and our more tech-savvy member offered to help if needed.

As a result of this experience, a norm I would add for online collaborative learning is “Be intentional about communication.” While communication is mentioned or implied in several of the norms, its significance is great enough to warrant more specific attention. “Communicate about communication” would be the first objective when a project begins. Included in an initial conversation would be the frequency and tool(s) to be used for communication. Flexibility would be key to intentional communication as well. Perhaps at the beginning of a project one type of communication works best. In our case, adding and responding to comments on the Google doc for our project proposal was effective. Later, our communication was mainly done through email. While these systems worked in the end, I felt at times insecure as to whether I was on the right track or whether my contributions were helpful because we did not have a specific plan in place for communication. This can be especially tricky when working in a global collaborative environment as written comments have the potential to be misread or misunderstood even by those operating with the same cultural and language background. Taking time to give feedback about communication early in the process of collaborative work would promote a healthy, positive online working environment. Regularly reviewing an evolving plan for intentional communication would allow for adjustments to be made and deadlines established that reflect the needs of the project.

References

Center for Adaptive Schools. (n.d.). Norms of collaboration, annotated. Retrieved from Thinking Collaborative website: https://www.thinkingcollaborative.com/norms-collaboration-toolkit/

Flat Connections. (2016, December 7). The norms of online collaboration. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuwv42SonJs