1. Student Thoughts and Ideas about Collaboration
Collaboration is one of the four C Skills, also known as the 21st Century Learning skills. The other three C's are: critical thinking, communication and creativity.
Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. - Henry Ford
1.1 What is collaboration?
1.2 How to build a collaborative team ?
- Get everyone on the same page - let everybody know what you will be discussing;
- Ask what every member of the group thinks - don't leave anyone out;
- Discuss the proposed solutions - weigh the pros and cons of each decision and decide which one you will apply;
- Carefully decide if a meeting should f2f or held online;
- Set the rules for your team;
- Give your team members autonomy!
1.3 Cooperation vs. Collaboration
These two terms are often mistaken for each other - What's the Difference ?
It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. - Charles Darwin
1.4 Digitization of Collaborative Processes
The advent of Cloud Technology, the boom in tech startups and, more recently, the COVID pandemic brought forth a plethora of online and digital tools meant to encourage and optimize collaboration in work environments. Z. Zhang, 2021
There is a large assortment of digital tools for assisting collaboration, due to the variety of collaborative tasks, which can facilitate the process with digitization.
File/Document Sharing Softwares are the foundation of online collaboration. Without them, collaboration becomes harder and long-range collaboration becomes next-to impossible. Freelance work would be almost entirely phased out and productivity in most office jobs would plummet. Sharing each other’s work and input involving a big group requires you to share files, and doing it online may be the most comfortable way to do so.
Instant Messaging helps with long-range communication, which creates synergy between the group members. This allows for more efficient collaboration, as brainstorming with bigger groups can feel suffocating without instant messaging.
Online Conferencing Softwares allows a group to emulate an in-person meeting over the internet. They became extremely prevalent during the COVID pandemic, because office and school spaces became unavailable, and face-to-face meetings or lessons were practically impossible. Online conferencing tools helped to collaborate during these times.
And what tools do we use to collaborate? Among our partner schools, different programs are being used before the actual meeting of project students. Before the Erasmus project in Lithuania, we used eTwinning to upload our individual project work and show it to the other Erasmus students to make collaboration easier. During our collaboration in Spain we used Google Docs and Google Drive to share the documents we were working on. These enabled us to edit the same file at the same time - thus sharing our ideas. We also used Canva, which allowed us to create colorful infographics together. Students from Poland edited the graphics, while others from Denmark, Germany, Lithuania and Spain made suggestions about which elements to add. In order to speed up our work, a student from Denmark, in collaboration with a teacher, proofread the whole website. The most important aspect was checking the spelling and punctuation in order to achieve the best quality for our final project. There was also collaboration between the students and the teachers, with constructive criticism and useful tips which we could use to improve our website. One of our aims was to create an appealing and aesthetic website. To do this, we needed photos for the website. The process of looking for pictures on Pixabay and Unsplash was also an example of collaboration. Many people on the team looked for photos and created graphical elements which gave the website its final touch.
1.5 Collaboration Problems
- Lack of Engagement
- Digital Boundaries
- Different Languages
- Miscommunication
- Personal Differences
- Motivational Differences
- Disagreements
- Problems
- Lack of Trust
We can avoid these problems by :
- Setting boundaries
- Checking on each other
- Active listening
- Considering everyone's opinion
- Being patient
- Communicating openly and addressing problems
- Splitting up our tasks
- Agreeing on a common goal
- Active participation of all members
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team. - Phil Jackson
1.6 Collaboration - Theoretical Framework of the IB Diploma Program
The International Baccalaureate (IB) defines Collaboration as a social process of knowledge building that requires students to work as an interdependent team towards a clear objective, resulting in a well-defined final product, consensus, or decision. Collaboration is a fundamental aspect of the theoretical framework of the IB.
The IB prioritizes collaborative learning experiences that focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills. The organization emphasizes group work, peer review, and collective decision making as key components of the learning process. Collaboration is seen as a means to promote diversity, respect for others’ opinions, and to foster a sense of community.
According to the IB, the ability to collaborate is essential for success in the 21st Century. In today’s vastly interconnected world, individuals must be able to work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Collaboration skills are also crucial for individuals seeking to address complex global challenges, such as climate change, poverty, and inequality.
The IB program encourages collaboration not only among students but also between teachers, parents, and the broader community. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate with their colleagues to develop interdisciplinary units that incorporate different subject areas and perspectives. Parents are also encouraged to collaborate with teachers to support their children’s learning.
1.7 Global Collaboration
The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 objectives intended as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future". Created in 2012 by the UN general assembly. They are an example of global collaboration, as a a blueprint for the actions of the 193 members of the United Nations. Everyone must contribute to ensure that we will make sufficient progress in the areas outlined.
These are as follows:
- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Good Health and Well-Being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean Water and Sanitation
- Affordable And Clean Energy
- Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Reduced Inequalities
- Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Responsible Consumption and Production
- Climate Action
- Life Below Water
- Life on Land
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Partnerships for the Goals
Photo taken by Iga Łobińska
2. Collaboration in Our Erasmus+ Project "Transdigital Education- Developing Key Competences through Holistic Learning and Teaching in the Digital Age"
2.1 Collaboration in Ikast, Denmark (2021)
Students from Lithuania, Spain, Poland, Germany and Denmark worked together to spread environmental awareness among students in form of planting plants on school grounds, building and setting up bird houses, and building insect hotels. A practical activity during which students and teachers worked hand in hand!
Erasmus+ photo of a strawberry patch planted by students
Erasmus+ photo showing students working on bird houses in Ikast, Denmark.
Building insect hotels: Similarly to building bird houses, students worked together on building insect hotels to provide shelter for insects. This way, students not only learned about different species, they also learned about their own abilities in planning, designing and building the new habitats.
Erasmus+ photo showing one of the insect hotels in Ikast, Denmark.
Erasmus+ group in Mols Bjerge National Park, Denmark.
What we learned in Ikast: Our joined engagement is a good example of how one may benefit from collaboration: We all improved our environmental awareness. Hands-on activities like building and creating bird and insect 'houses' led to increased confidence in our personal abilities as well as an acceptance of our responsibilities. We learned to respect individual group members with their different abilities and contributions.
2.2 Collaboration in Vilnius, Lithuania (2022)
In May 2022, the Erasmus project unfolded in Vilnius, Lithuania, focusing on the creation of a podcast examining the impact of the internet on communication. Collaboration was a key, as the podcast aimed to both educate and entertain listeners. Various groups were assigned different topics and perspectives to discuss. Some worked on content creation, while others focused on podcast editing. Participants delved into the complexities of internet-mediated communication. The project fostered intellectual exploration and creativity.
The main aim of the exchange in Poland was to demonstrate digital learner autonomy by creating infographics in international groups about recent trends.
A digital tool students used for online collaboration was Canva, which allowed them to put information together for students in all project countries.
Photo taken by Iga Łobińska
Photo taken by Barbara Ostrowska
2.4 Collaboration in Essen, Germany (2023)
Student groups from Spain, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, and Germany individually worked on preparing and presenting a book of their choice in a creative way (for example as a theatrical performance). They were thus responsible for building the foundation for the upcoming project and this interdependency proved to be a vital aspect of successful collaboration.
Through equitable participation of all members and team-based work, the students came up with an original concept for a new play including aspects of the previously presented books. Students collaborated to come up with ideas to combine the individually prepared material.
Throughout the week the students gained important social skills as the emphasis was on face-to-face interaction and team-based learning.
With the help of professional producer Julie Stearns, students were able to create and perform a play for a larger audience. Through the collaborative work process, the play was produced in less than a week. This shows how collaboration is essential for an efficient work process, especially with limited time and resources.
Watch the beginning of the joint student play above!
With the aid of Google Forms, an online collaborative tool, the student organizers from Germany were also able to offer a digital survey to the participants of the theatre workshop. We could thereby find out what our reading preference were and what the students in the different countries had in common with regards to favourite genres and reading habits.
3. Further Ideas Regarding Collaboration
3.1 Interview with Polish teacher Izabela Kopik
What is the key to good collaboration?
- Collaboration with people from different countries is difficult. You have to overcome communicative and personal barriers. However, it gets better over time. It is important to get out of your comfort zone and to be open. Successful and effective collaboration implies being open to otherness and to a different perspective.
Which advice would you give your students about their future teamwork activities?
- For sure, there should be a leader of the team. What is even more important is that the tasks are divided equally and designated among the team members. The group should have a clearly defined goal, towards which the group is working. In a team, everyone must be ready to work, and dedicate their time, energy, and ideas, for the sake of the goal of the group.
3.2 Interview with IB student Júlia Peña
What was your first impression of the projects und the collaboration in the groups?‘
- I believe our project was extremely interesting and Erasmus is a great way to develop as a person. At first, collaboration was difficult because we got put in a group we didn‘t really know and most of the people were intimidated. After we got to know each other, the collaboration was so much better than it was before because people got more comfortable.
How did the Erasmus projects improve your ability to collaborate with others?
- It really improved my ability to communicate with others and my ability to work with a group in which communication is sometimes hard because of cultural and linguistic differences.
3.3 Interview with Erasmus Student Mieke Arnold
3.4 Interview with Erasmus Student Julius Eichhorn
3.5 Our Own Experiences with Collaboration As We Designed This Webpage
Extracurricular activities and projects play an essential role in personal growth and skill development outside the traditional classroom or workplace. In the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, students participate in activities that fall under the categories of Creativity, Activity, and Service, collectively known as CAS. Collaboration is often necessary when working on other service projects, and the experience gained through extracurricular activities can be applied to other projects. Therefore, collaboration was not new to us, but the skills we adopted from other students in the Erasmus exchange just took us a big step further!
Our team was able to complete our project within the given deadline due to our quick and efficient teamwork. This required a strict work schedule and the ability to communicate our progress effectively, leading to quick responses and further progress throughout the project.
Our group faced a significant workload, but we soon worked out how to delegate the tasks. This allowed us to divide responsibilities evenly and ensure that each member was able to contribute to the best of their abilities. From that point on, we combined cooperation with collaboration to create a more functioning, and reflective group. In doing so, we were able to maximize our efficiency and productivity, ultimately leading to the successful completion of all the tasks.
Problem-solving was a key factor in the success of our team. Our journey towards completing this webpage was not without challenges, but we were able to overcome them with the help of creativity, persistence and, yes, collaboration. We brainstormed new ideas, discussed various solutions, and just helped each other out where necessary.
We are proud of the result, an informative webpage which gives more than a short glimpse on an exciting three-year project. And we are happy about how we managed to function as a team - just within a day or two!
We hope you like our ideas and we could encourage you to start collaborating now, whether in Erasmus Plus, a humanitarian project, a student committee or ... The list is probably endless.
Just choose what is best for you and DO IT TOGETHER WITH OTHERS!!!