Rethinking Collaborative Learning Through Participation in an Interdisciplinary Research Project: Tensions and Negotiations as Key Points in Knowledge Production

Abstract

As social and cultural psychologists of learning, we are persuaded of the crucial role of interaction in development and learning. But how do we experience this assumption in our own research practices and in our collaboration with colleagues? Taking as our object of study our own participation in a European Research and Development project that aimed to enhance interactive and argumentative skills in learning settings, this study shows how collaboration among project partners is not something that is to be taken for granted, but something that is elaborated and evolves in time, takes diverse forms, and is mediated by multiple tools. The psychological processes--more particularly tensions and negotiation--involved in collaboration are developed and discussed. The study explores the processes of establishing collaboration and, through the analysis of specific zones of tensions, sheds light on the way new knowledge (on how to do research, how to communicate, how to work together) is constructed. It contributes to the understanding of the issues and conditions for the development of a community of practice.

Collaborative Analysis of Qualitative Data

“…• Insider/outsider (Bartunek and Louis, 1996) • Interdisciplinary (Tartas and Muller Mirza, 2007;Lingard et al, 2007) • Different methodological approaches (Frost et al, 2010) • Academic-practitioner (Hartley and Benington, 2000) • Academic-lay person (Enosh and Ben-Ari, 2010;Lamerichs et al, 2009) • International (Akkerman et al, 2006;Arcidiacono, 2007;Bender et al, 2011;Marková and Plichtová, 2007;Tartas and Muller Mirza, 2007) • Senior-junior (Hall et al, 2005;Pontecorvo, 2007;Rogers-Dillon, 2005) In what follows, we first introduce why collaborative data analysis is interesting from a methodological point of view, informed by the epistemological stance of perspectivism. Expanding this discussion, we then explore five potential methodological benefits of collaborative data analysis.…”

“…They first settled on the production of a more vague 'curriculum framework' which would allow each country to create a syllabus suited to local needs. This solution, in acknowledging the diversity among the countries, suggests that collaborations sometimes cannot produce a single definitive outcome, but need some flexibility in the degree of sharedness of their product (see also Tartas and Muller Mirza, 2007).…”

“…When people are labelled as 'academics' vs 'practitioners', or as 'medics' vs 'social scientists', they may become sensitive to their identity and to challenges to their group's status. In a project bringing together education researchers and IT specialists to create pedagogical software, each side developed nicknames for the other: the pedagogical teams were called 'dreamers', the technical teams were labelled 'technocrats' (Tartas and Muller Mirza, 2007).…”

Reading, Writing and Relevancy: Integrating 3R's into STEM

“…The value of cooperative and collaborative learning in interdisciplinary, project-based learning is well documented (Chen & Chang, 2014;Fifolt & Searby, 2010;Tartas & Mirza, 2007;Shooter & McNeill, 2002). The Center for Teaching and Faculty Excellence at George Mason (2014) promoted collaborative learning approaches stating collaborative learning strengthens STEM education by valuing the diversity of student learning styles and emphasizing that learning occurs in relationship with others.…”

Learning through Agent Negotiation: A Conceptual Framework

“…In order to coordinate mutual cognition and ideas more effectively, the concept of negotiation has recently attracted some interest in e-learning research [9,11,14,17]. It encompasses the interchange of information and communication techniques supporting the resolution of cognitive differences among learners, instructors, and peers.…”