Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning has taken on many forms. One form is Collaborative Networked Learning for the self-directed adult learner.

Dr. Charles Findley,Ph.D., began exploring and coined the term Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL) in the mid 1980's as part of the work on designing the classroom of the future for the knowledge worker.

Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL) is that learning which occurs via electronic dialogue between self-directed co-learners and learners and experts. Learners share a common purpose, depend upon each other and are accountable to each other for their success. CNL occurs in interactive groups in which participants actively communicate and negotiation meaning with one another.

Three important considerations motivate the focus on CNL in this resource.

=CNL is sound educational practice.=

Researchers and educators have contrasted collaborative activities with two other categories-- competitive and individualistic. Competitive activities, for example, include those in which only one person can win, or where learners compete for grades, rank, or status, rather than when all members focus on achieving mastery or competence. Individualistic activities, for example, include working in isolation with no interaction with others, or when a learner interacts only with a self-paced manual or CBI, rather than when all members share ideas with each other.

The overwhelming conclusion of research in the goals of learning environments is that collaborative,cooperative goal directed activities lead to higher achievement. Overall higher achievement translates into higher productivity.

=CNL is sound business practice.=

Much work in the information age enterprise involves collaborative, team oriented tasks. Learning workers share information with one another in order to accomplish common tasks in a small group. Professionals share information with each other, and learn something about each others' specialization in order to reach consensus on a common problem. Assembly line workers have increased productivity when workers learned from each other how their different individual parts of the task fit together to produce the whole. All of these different learning workers are engaging in activities which involve collaboration.

Life-long learning in the workplace is becoming a necessity rather than an ideal. The need for collaboration is great and will continue. By facilitating collaborative methods of learning, we could help workers acquire individually and collectively the rapidly, changing knowledge required in the high-tech workplace.

=Collaboration is a condition of learning in the information workplace.= While the worker in the industrial era factory learned how to manipulate objects and memorized actions, the worker in the modern organization learns how to think, learn and apply information to a task.
 * 1) Workers need to engage in activities that allow them to approach problems from different vantage points, testing out assumptions,and redefining meanings,i.e.creative thinking in order to develop new viewpoints.
 * 2) Workers need to engage in the social,collaborative exchange of ideas in order to pose hypothetical problems, general hypotheses, conduct experiments and reflect on outcomes.

Basically, workers are learning in groups to make meaning out of information. Not only do workers need to make meaning out of the information but in order to actually perform their jobs they need to be able to share that meaning with others.

This guide is to serve as a basic resource for individuals planning, implementing, and participating in Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL) communities as co-learners. The general guidelines provided here draw upon published research and from experience with successful applications of different CNL models.

=Collaboration in Groups: Intra-personal and Interpersonal Communication= Collaborative Learning, therefore, would occur in the context of a group with a mission or agreed-upon-purpose. The work involves the structuring and restructuring of conceptual knowledge. The final product is a message, an external artifact of the group knowledge at a particular point in time, which communicates the knowledge of the group. The message might take the form of a program, a report, a strategy document, a diagram, a drawing etc. Learning-work involves the cognitive processes of assimilation--intake of information from the environment, accommodation--restructuring to fit new into the old, present structure, and integration--directly fitting information into existing structure. And most importantly it involves the resolution of conflict between old and new structures,which can lead to innovation.

Two communication processes or type of dialogs are involved in collaborative learning: (1) Intra-personal communication--integration, and accommodation--involves processing within the individual. (2) Interpersonal communication involves assimilation-- the intake of information from the environment--and representation of one's knowledge structure in a form and medium that can be shared with another person. As one person shares ideas with another person, the process becomes an on-going loop from assimilation through representation of knowledge structures.

At any point the learner may represent his/her ideas in order to test out hypotheses to gain agreement or validation. When members of a mission oriented group create shared knowledge structure and produce an artifact such as a written report or a software program, for example, they engage in learning to created a product which is their collective knowledge.

=Collaboration--Across Time and Distance=

Channel Selection
Electronically networked group involves different communication channels than when working one to one. Selecting an appropriate channel for the each tasks may accomplish the objectives. Adler and Elmhost (2005) consider five important factors to help one decide when, where and how to communicate, such as the time required to receive feedback, amount of information conveyed, sender’s control over the message, control over receiver’s attention and effectiveness for detailed message. In order to determine when to meet face-to-face or when to send e-mail or perhaps when to send a simple instant text message, consult Table 1.1 page 13 in Adler and Rodman, Understanding Human Communication 9th edition for guidance.

Feedback Strategy: Feedback messages without nonverbal clues
As part of a face-to-face group individuals are constantly reading the nonverbal communication such as gestures, facial express, voice tone, and change in body position. In essence, the communicators are monitoring the interaction looking for feedback that says "how things are going." These feedback messages are both verbal and non-verbal. Communicators become accustomed to reading the nonverbal messages for level of understanding, agreement, or meaning that is shared among the participants in the interaction. In many collaborative networked environments, the non-verbal messages are reduced or non-existent. Participants develop special strategies for eliciting and sharing feedback in networked environments. For example, in an electronic network involving only text-based computer mediated communication (CMC) the feedback is more restricted than in other networks.

Process Facilitation—how are we doing as a group
While any participant may assume responsibility for eliciting feedback and confirming meaning from other participants, all members of the learning group share the responsibility for clarification and confirmation. Each individual participates actively to let others know their current level of understanding or acceptance. David and Roger Johnson (1994) offer some general advice for providing feedback which will help create a group context which supports group communication. Based on their research in collaborative group learning environments, they offer the following ground rules for providing effective feedback:

Effective feedback is as immediate as possible; rather than allowing misunderstandings to multiple and continue through a series of exchanges, members check for understanding regularly.

Effective feedback focuses on description and personal interpretations of messages rather than judgment or evaluation.

Effective feedback focuses on the particular message or behavior of the participant rather than imagined personality traits.

Effective feedback is personal such as I perceive... or I understand rather than impersonal such as The general perception is..... or The level of understanding is ......

Effective feedback provides only the amount of information that can be understood or is meaningful at the time, rather than a dissertation.

Effective feedback is specific and focused rather than general and abstract. It is meaningful within the present context of the group communication.

Feedback about group process is important.
One often neglected aspect of feedback is the collaborative process itself. The Johnsons suggest that members of a group who are attempting to engage in collaborative group work focus feedback on group process as well as the specific content of the group efforts. Elaine Kerr (1985,p.16) " Small task-oriented groups need to occasionally pause to talk about the process itself: participant rates, the tone of the conversation, conflicts, feelings about the process, impacts, observations and problems of using the system, equipment..." Creating a special time or electronic space for this type of feedback is vital to the on-going success of the collaboration.

If the team is to continue to collaborate and grow as a group, then it will need to focus on its own interaction as a group. Sharing observations about process in the group can help group members become aware of where the group is collectively and how individuals have contributed to that direction. Observation of this nature provides the feedback necessary for groups to improve their overall productivity and satisfaction.

Collaborative Group Productivity suggestions
Get to Know the members

Review the background introduction profiles Share fears, success and concerns about collaborative team work Group Memory

As part of the work process it is important to create a group memory or repository of content date.

Use the chat room with “record” selected to archive the decisions and discussion. Use the discussion forum conference to post and discuss ideas rather than sending individual attachment emails. Project Management Hints Create time tables for different phases.

Set expectations about individual and group deliverables.

Follow-up discussion and meetings with summarized agreements and 	reminders of timelines.

=References=
 * Adler, Ronald B. and J. M. Elmhorst. Communicating at Work: Principles and Practices for Business and the Professions, 8th ed. (New York, McGraw-Hill, 2005) Pp. 32-33.


 * Adler, Ronald B. and George Rodman. Understanding Human Communication. 9th ed. (New York, Oxford University Press, 2006) p. 13.

Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic learning(4th edition) Allyn & Bacon, Boston, 1994.
 * Bransford, John et al.1986. " Teaching Thinking and Problem Solving" American Psychologist. 41,10,pp.1078-1088.
 * Friedman, Thomas. 2005. The World is Flat: A brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
 * Findley, Charles A. 1989. Open Communication Systems Beyond the Classroom. Presentation at World Future Society, July 16-20, Washington, D.C.
 * ________________. 1989. Collaborative Learning-work. Presentation at the Pacific Telecommunications Council 1989 Conference, January 15-20, Honolulu, Hawaii.
 * _________________. 1988. Collaborative Networked Learning: On-line Facilitation and Software Support,  Digital Equipment Corporation. Burlington, MA.
 * _________________. 1987. Integrated Learning and Information Support Systems for the Information Age Worker. Presentation at World Future Society Conference, Cambridge, MA., November 1987.
 * Johnson, David W. and Roger T. Johnson

A Guide to Moderating On-line Conferences," IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications, Vol. PC 29, No 1, p.16.
 * Kerr,Elaine. 1985. "Electronic Leadership:
 * Levy, Frank and Richard J. Murnane. 2005. ‘’The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market’’ Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.


 * Peters. Thomas J. and Robert Waterman (1982). In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row.
 * Peters, Thomas J. (2006). Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age (Paperback).  New York: Dorling Kindersley Adult.

=Appendix=

This provides some more substance and documentation for  the  general listing of trends.

LONG RANGE
1) There will be a shortfall of approximately 50 million jobs by 2010. (Alan Porter, FUTURIST,Sept/Oct 1986)

2) The "job" is the cornerstone of our social structure. It  provides for  economic,  social,  and  psychological  needs.   Take it away and society   could   collapse--unless   we   plan   ahead.(Alan   Porter, FUTURIST,Sept/Oct 1986)

(3) Self-learning programs will be on the market in specific  domains so  that   they   can  generalize  from  experience,i.e.   learn  new information; therefore, individual will not have to learn content but how to  access  new knowledge (information) from the learning machine supporting the work.

MID RANGE
(1)The first jobs to be replaced will be the procedural since they are the easiest  to be automated,e.g.  robotics in manufacturing,assemble line work. (2) More  and  more  intelligent,  self-monitoring  and self-diagnosing programs  on  microprocessors  are  being included in products. (3) New  jobs  will  require  workers  who   can   make decisions, solve problem  and  think  independently  since the routine control, monitoring,  and  procedural  tasks  will  be  performed  by intelligent machines.

PRESENT
Industrial era has ended; we have moved into  a  post-industrial  era with a central focus on information and service.

GM uses programmable controllers in manufacturing; GM is making a substantial long-term investment in Automation. American corporations reduce manufacturing staff. IBM offers early retirement options beginning at age 45. Bundled solutions with SW/HW products.

QUESTIONS:

What trends  do  you  see  in  product  strategy,  job  descriptions, personnel policies etc. that reinforce or contradict this trend?

LONG RANGE
Csq. adapts to you, knows you, and  adapts,  intelligent  C  sq. becomes interactive partner in on-going dialog

(1)Knowledge processing schemes with parallel processing, associative memory, and inference/knowledge  processing rather than stored-program schemes of von-Neumann computer architectures

(2)Japanese  Fifth   Generation--smaller, more powerful, and more intelligent 1991 projections Report

1)Very High Performance Computer Systems--100gates/chip    2)Seven-Dimension VLSI 3) Biocomputers--modeling of Human brain, biochips, and new computer    architecture using human brain as model [e.g. study of connectionist      theory relevant at this level]     (Hideo Aiso, Chair Fifth Generation Computer Systems Project, speech "Research Topics in Japanese national Projects for Information Technology" presented October 10, 1986 at Digital Equipment Corp. Hudson, Mass.

(3)New Computing machines could not only be much faster and  cheaper, but  could   achieve   the   elusive  goals  of  recognizing  images, understanding speech,  and  exhibiting  more  intelligent   behavior. (Michael L.   Dertouzos,  The  Multiprocessor Revolution:  Harnessing Computers Together, TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, February/March 1986)

MID-RANGE
1)mini-computers, micro-computers, to lap-top, to knee-top all with the same power,.e.g.  more memory on a chip--more power and memory in smaller size (e.g.  follow product strategy from  floor  model  TV  to hand held "Watchman.")

2)all data-types(including but not limited to real time audio,video, text, graphics) will be processed and transmitted as part of the home and office infosphere.

3) "Whether you're talking about the office or  the  home,  I  don't think you'll be able to tell the difference between your telephone and your  computer  as  time  goes  on."  John  Roach,  Tandy  Corporation Chairman, PERSONAL COMPUTING, Sept.  1985

4)Computer Aid  Communication  (CAC)   becomes   common   place   in organizations.   (See  Chandler  Stevens,ELECTRONIC  ORGANIZATION  and EXPERT NETWORKS, report   5.41.011  from  Management  in  the  1990's project at MIT.)

PRESENT
(1)"A revolution is taking place within the  information  revolution. It  involves  harnessing  hundreds,  thousands,  or  even  millions of computers to work together on a single task.   The  technological  and economic  forces  spurring  this  revolution  arise form two important trends.  On the one hand is the dramatic improvement over the past two decades  in  very-large-scale-integrated  (VLSI)  circuits,  which now incorporate some hundred-thousand components on a silicon  chip.   The cost  of  computational  power  has  dropped  an average of 30 percent annually.  For less  than  $100  manufacturers  can  now  fabricate  a microprocessor--the  computational  core  of  a  computer  etched on a single chip-- capable of performing more than a  million  instructions per  second." (Michael L.  Dertouzos, The Multiprocessor Revolution: Harnessing  Computers  Together,  TECHNOLOGY  REVIEW,   February/March 1986,p45.)

(2)Local and  wide-area  networks  marketed. ('Power,status' based  on  withholding information breaks down.  (See discussion of information society.)

(3)Video-phone's on the market using voice over internet or cable

(4)Phone slave project at MIT

(5)In 1984, 40% of the Fortune 500 Industry and Service companies had local area  networks, projected to be 72% 1985. It is clear from the study that respondents have a good understanding of  word  processing equipment and personal computers. But there is a lot of confusion as to the linkage between these tools. (The Office Automation Challenge: American Business  Responds  prepared  by the OMNI GROUP, reported in COMPUTER WORLD April,1984) (6)Electronic mail (e.g. mail and gateways  to  the  world  from office or home terminal) and electronic conferencing (e.g.  Conferencing, public  and private bulletin boards and collaborative information creation)

QUESTIONS (1)F. S. engineers working with  networks  need  different type of problem-solving analysis, and independent thinking skills than their counterparts. (How was this  addressed  and  are  their  other indicators that education and training will change?)

(2)Did training change to adjust to the market in 1984? Also the level of  training  required  shifts  from the clerical worker to the system administrator did it?

LONG RANGE
(1)Using Toffler's framework, the Third Wave, based on information and electronic technology  with mature and become clearly dominate in the next 10 years. Another period of innovation  and  high  growth  will occur, lasting  about  25  years. A third  period  of  Third  Wave innovation will take off and last us until about 2045, at which point the economy will decline until the next wave of technology comes into dominance: the Cybernetic Wave. (H. Alan  Raymond.   Management  in the Third Wave.  THE FUTURIST.  Sept./Oct.  1986.  p.  15-17.  (2) The rate of change is increasing  and  continuous.   (See  Alvin  Toffler. 1980. THE THIRD WAVE. Bantan Books,New York.)

MID RANGE
(1)Individual's are  becoming  more  specialized  in  their  area  of endeavor. Problem-solving and  decision  making require integration from number of specialized.

(2)Multiple dissimilar databases can be searched without changing the structure of the representation within the individual databases. (See notes on Hudson seminar and I 3 work)

(3)" The increased  adoption  of  knowledge-distribution  technology, super-  imposed  on  the geometrically increasing knowledge base, will necessarily result in a knowledge  environment  that  is  dramatically more  munificent  (  or  burdening)  than  is that of today.  " George Huber. The Nature  and  Design  of  Post-industrial  Organizations. MANAGEMENT SCIENCE Vol 30, 8, Aug 1984, p.,931

(4)Corporations will invest in the workers and technologies that best extract and process information resources.

PRESENT
(1)The information age of the post-industrial era  has  replaced  the industrial  era. New  demands   for  information,  its  creation, management, use and distribution are needed.

(2)Providing access to  more  information  is  prevalent  vs.   right information to meet demand is waiting for solution.

(3)Work is underway to design Collaborative Working environment tools MCC conference in December 1986 Debbie Tatter's group at Xerox PARC GDSS ( Group Decision Support Systems) are being designed to     help facilitate the need for shared information within organizations. AS typical GDSS consists of a meeting room with a conference table. Each seating position has a small CRT terminal. Input at these terminals is by keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, or some combination of these devices.

The meeting's participants are able to create displays on their CRT's    and to select portions of their 'personal' display for forwarding to a public display screen. George Huber, Issues in the Design of Group Decision Support Systems, MIS QUARTERLY, September 1984 p.195.

(4)Life-cycle of information--the information explosion is continuing at an  every  expanding  rate. Product training is outdated before printed because of  the  faster  rate  and  number  of  new  products introduced into  the  marketplace. For example, training groups develop courses printed 1600 pages of material on products for new hire training. It was  outdated before delivered to the audience. (Reference key points from  Huber  and  Ackoff  about  organizations, information, and post-industrial society).

QUESTIONS (1)What database solutions are people developing to  handle information needs? What complaints are their about too much/or not enough information? (2)Is information  being  managed  as  a  Corp. resource? (3)Are the right people getting the information they need to perform their tasks?

Key trends in individual thoughts and Values
A premium was placed upon obedience and  loyalty  in  the  industrial organizational structure. Thinking and innovation only upset rigid, planned structures and  were  not  highly  valued. Tasks including management with  simplified down to their lowest level so that almost anyone do them. People, like  parts,  were  interchangeable  and standardized.

A new monetary premium is being placed on the individual, on thinking and on  innovation,  and  on  the  speed  and precision of execution. Decision making  and  responsibility  are  again  required   of   the individual who  may less easily pass the buck and must be financially responsible for  his  area  or  product,  as  the  corporate  pyramid flattens, i.e.   four  levels of management from the bottom to top is goal of many organizations today. [Look at  your  organization  and count the levels.] Decisions in a faster-paced economy cannot wait for endless committee meetings and analysis that  would  only  allow  the competition to  win. Fast decisions require a maximum of information and instant and precise analysis. This, in turn, requires better and more highly  educated personnel, who also must be innovative in using new technology. Individuals are becoming less easily interchanged and more intrinsic to the business. (H. Alan Raymond.  Management in the Third Wave.  THE FUTURIST.  Sept./Oct.  1986.  p.  15-17.

Marilyn Ferguson. 1980. THE AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY:PERSONAL AND  SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE 1980's.

Sherry Turkle. 1984. THE  SECOND  SELF:   COMPUTERS  AND  the  HUMAN SPIRIT.

Long Range Goals:Key Themes in Learning Environments
Holistic approach to person and process with less focus  on  product. Product will be more intelligent and will help you use it.

Needs analysis and problem definition tools such as decision  support for manager  and  instructional  design  will  become much, much more sophisticated than today  taking  into  consideration  all  variables effecting total solution for client.

Needs analysis becomes interactive and self monitoring rather than  a discrete part of dead end process.

Methods will not just be limited  to  text  based  but  will  include multiple sensory inputs with simulations.

More sophisticated matching of means with ends in terms of "training" solution.

New ways of testing/indicating knowing--suggest looking  at  paradigm such  as   (1)doesn't   know  (2)consciously  aware  of  knowing  (3) unconsciously conscious of  knowing,  DON'T  TEST  'HOW  TO'  CONTENT instead PERFORMANCE defined in broad since related to job, not trivial performance as in behavioral objectives.

===More learning on job with intelligent systems that are adaptable  and tolerable to individual===

Possibly less learning on the part of the individual and more learning from computer,  so  that  computer  monitors job tasks and strategies employed becomes more intelligent and thus becomes intelligent job aid for worker  who  just has to use the computer, e.g.  self-referential programs.

Need to consider not only the physical dimension, but the social  and task/ knowledge requirements of any learning situation.

Instructors can not possibly know everything about a particular  area thus the  "instructor"  is  not  a  disseminator of information but a facilitator, guide or coach for the learner, i.e.  equality of learner with the human or machine manager of learning environment.

Content has to change to help learner move beyond rote  memorization, stress process, learning how to learn, visualization, decision making, thinking and problem solving.

Social environment of designer of learning environments and experience has to change drastically because the social environment is reflected in the tools, e.g. top down, structured  programming  in  an  era  of object- oriented programming, parallel processing, and networks.

The user controls the learning process rather than the process  being controlled by an outside designer, teacher or system.

The learning environment knows about itself and the user within it
System is maintained by a "maintenance librarian" program.

Content (is process) is flexible and evolving, need processes in place to replace outdated information automatically, need ways to know what the learner doesn't need to be learning anymore.

There is a spectrum of solutions, for any learning  problem--need  to have way of analyzing situation and recommending solution.