MIA

Since online discussion platforms can limit the perception of social cues, effective collaboration over videochat requires additional attention to conversational skills. However, self-affirmation and defensive bias theories indicate that feedback may appear confrontational, especially when users are not motivated to incorporate them. We develop a feedback chatbot that employs Motivational Interviewing (MI), a directive counseling method that encourages commitment to behavior change, with the end goal of improving the user's conversational skills. We conduct a within-subject study with 21 participants in 8 teams to evaluate our MI-agent 'MIA' and a non-MI-agent 'Roboto'. After interacting with an agent, participants are tasked with conversing over videochat to evaluate candidate résumés for a job circular. Our quantitative evaluation shows that the MI-agent effectively motivates users, improves their conversational skills, and is likable. Through a qualitative lens, we present the strategies and the cautions needed to fulfill individual and team goals during group discussions. Our findings reveal the potential of the MI technique to improve collaboration and provide examples of conversational tactics important for optimal discussion outcomes.

Collaboration Beyond the School

The authors of this chapter posit that collaboration with related and instructional personnel, as well as regional and state education agencies, can serve to combat teacher retention issues while improving student services. Acknowledging common barriers to effective collaboration, practical tools for overcoming these challenges are suggested. Further, key stakeholders in the collaborative process and their roles are identified. The chapter concludes by organizing collaborative efforts to engage in throughout a student's educational career.

Assessing an effective collaboration in higher education: A study of students’ experiences and challenges on group collaboration

Studies emphasize that collaboration remains an essential part of learning and working in the 21st century. This study seeks to report on the group collaboration of higher education students. Using Explanatory sequential mixed method design, this study tried to discuss the students’ experiences and challenges on group collaboration environment in the online learning cases. Adopting Razmerita and Kirchner's (2014) questionnaire, 287 students involved in this study. The result indicated that overall students performed positive perception on group collaboration. In addition, to have deep analysis, 15 students were interviewed. This study contributes to an understanding of how students perceived collaboration and how they explain the obstacles recognized in their classes.DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v6i2.6971

Building Digital Bridges: Improving Digital Collaboration through the Principles of Hyperlinked Practice

<p>Effective collaboration requires access to timely and relevant information, but this is difficult given the complexity of the architectural design process and the segmentation of the architecture, engineering and construction industry. Effective collaboration is further complicated by the quantity and density of the digital information generated within a project, and the irregular adoption of technology by different team members. Consolidating project information within Building Information Models has improved its management, but the technology’s complexity limits who can contribute to it. This is a problem, because team members are capable of collaborating more effectively when they can record and reflect upon a comprehensive record of the project’s design process. The aim of research was to identify how information technology can assist architectural project teams to collaborate by more inclusively and comprehensively recording and reflecting upon the design process. To address this problem, this research proposes that the industry adopt Hyperlinked Practice, which is the creation of a distributed cloud of interconnected information describing an architectural project’s events, activities and digital artefacts. A set of fundamental principles were identified that would be used to guide the design and deployment of digital collaboration tools capable of facilitating Hyperlinked Practice. To ensure a flexible and inclusive environment, the principles were derived from concepts proven within the World Wide Web. To validate these principles, their collaboration influence, potential, and industry applicability was tested within a software prototype utilised in a university architecture course and two thought experiments. The results from testing the software prototype suggest that the principles are capable of influencing collaboration in a manner that promotes the recording of the design process, and reflection upon it. The thought experiments demonstrated that the principles provided an excellent framework for evaluating a digital collaboration tool’s ability to facilitate Hyperlinked Practice. Based on these results, the research concluded the identified principles of Hyperlinked Practice were capable of facilitating a collaboration environment that would allow the design process to be comprehensively recorded and reflected upon.</p>

Building Digital Bridges: Improving Digital Collaboration through the Principles of Hyperlinked Practice

<p>Effective collaboration requires access to timely and relevant information, but this is difficult given the complexity of the architectural design process and the segmentation of the architecture, engineering and construction industry. Effective collaboration is further complicated by the quantity and density of the digital information generated within a project, and the irregular adoption of technology by different team members. Consolidating project information within Building Information Models has improved its management, but the technology’s complexity limits who can contribute to it. This is a problem, because team members are capable of collaborating more effectively when they can record and reflect upon a comprehensive record of the project’s design process. The aim of research was to identify how information technology can assist architectural project teams to collaborate by more inclusively and comprehensively recording and reflecting upon the design process. To address this problem, this research proposes that the industry adopt Hyperlinked Practice, which is the creation of a distributed cloud of interconnected information describing an architectural project’s events, activities and digital artefacts. A set of fundamental principles were identified that would be used to guide the design and deployment of digital collaboration tools capable of facilitating Hyperlinked Practice. To ensure a flexible and inclusive environment, the principles were derived from concepts proven within the World Wide Web. To validate these principles, their collaboration influence, potential, and industry applicability was tested within a software prototype utilised in a university architecture course and two thought experiments. The results from testing the software prototype suggest that the principles are capable of influencing collaboration in a manner that promotes the recording of the design process, and reflection upon it. The thought experiments demonstrated that the principles provided an excellent framework for evaluating a digital collaboration tool’s ability to facilitate Hyperlinked Practice. Based on these results, the research concluded the identified principles of Hyperlinked Practice were capable of facilitating a collaboration environment that would allow the design process to be comprehensively recorded and reflected upon.</p>

An Exploration of the Collaborative Practices within Learning Networks of New Zealand Schools

<p>This thesis investigates the practices of participants in three “clusters” of New Zealand schools associated with the Extending High Standards Across Schools (EHSAS) project funded by the Ministry of Education from 2005 to 2009. The investigation addresses four questions: (i) What collaborative practices were used by the participants in the EHSAS clusters? (ii) Do the research participants perceive the collaborative practices that they used as making a difference to student achievement? (iii) What do the participants perceive as the benefits and limitations of collaborative practice? (iv) How consistent are participants’ perceptions with research findings in the field? The thesis begins by searching national and international research in order to define effective collaboration. It is argued that across certain relevant studies, the key purposes of collaboration are for teachers and students to learn and improve in order to reach the common goal set by the cluster. Associated practices can be used to build skills and knowledge in teachers, school leaders, and cluster members. Following this, a Grounded Theory approach was used to analyse and interpret data that emerged from the three clusters’ milestone reports and interviews with cluster members. The analysis found that the leaders of EHSAS clusters believed that shared leadership across principals is essential to cluster work, and that a hierarchical cluster structure is the best way to transmit knowledge from leaders to teachers. They also believed that if they shared resources, ideas, strengths and expertise with one another they would then have knowledge that would be useful to teachers wanting to change and improve their practices, and raise student achievement. Despite some of their beliefs being consistent with research literature on effective collaboration, according to the literature, many of the EHSAS leaders’ practices would not have enabled the learning and improvement that they espoused to be leading. The final chapter of this thesis identifies where EHSAS leaders’ beliefs and practices were inconsistent and what this means for future research and the implementation of similar projects aiming to promote collaboration across schools.</p>

An Exploration of the Collaborative Practices within Learning Networks of New Zealand Schools

<p>This thesis investigates the practices of participants in three “clusters” of New Zealand schools associated with the Extending High Standards Across Schools (EHSAS) project funded by the Ministry of Education from 2005 to 2009. The investigation addresses four questions: (i) What collaborative practices were used by the participants in the EHSAS clusters? (ii) Do the research participants perceive the collaborative practices that they used as making a difference to student achievement? (iii) What do the participants perceive as the benefits and limitations of collaborative practice? (iv) How consistent are participants’ perceptions with research findings in the field? The thesis begins by searching national and international research in order to define effective collaboration. It is argued that across certain relevant studies, the key purposes of collaboration are for teachers and students to learn and improve in order to reach the common goal set by the cluster. Associated practices can be used to build skills and knowledge in teachers, school leaders, and cluster members. Following this, a Grounded Theory approach was used to analyse and interpret data that emerged from the three clusters’ milestone reports and interviews with cluster members. The analysis found that the leaders of EHSAS clusters believed that shared leadership across principals is essential to cluster work, and that a hierarchical cluster structure is the best way to transmit knowledge from leaders to teachers. They also believed that if they shared resources, ideas, strengths and expertise with one another they would then have knowledge that would be useful to teachers wanting to change and improve their practices, and raise student achievement. Despite some of their beliefs being consistent with research literature on effective collaboration, according to the literature, many of the EHSAS leaders’ practices would not have enabled the learning and improvement that they espoused to be leading. The final chapter of this thesis identifies where EHSAS leaders’ beliefs and practices were inconsistent and what this means for future research and the implementation of similar projects aiming to promote collaboration across schools.</p>

Building an Equilibrium: Rules vs. Principles in Relational Contracts

Effective collaboration within and between organizations requires efficient adaptation to unforeseen change. We study how parties build relational contracts that achieve this goal. We focus on the “clarity problem”—whether parties have a shared understanding of the promises they make to each other. Specifically, (a) a buyer and seller play a trading game in several periods; (b) they know their environment will change but do not know how; and (c) before any trading occurs, they can reach a nonbinding agreement about how to play the entire game. We hypothesize that pairs whose initial agreement defines a broad principle rather than a narrow rule are more successful in solving the clarity problem and in achieving efficient adaptation after unforeseen change. In our baseline condition, we indeed observe that pairs who articulate principles achieve significantly higher performance after change occurred. Underlying this correlation, we also find that pairs with principle-based agreements were more likely to both expect and take actions that were consistent with what their agreement prescribed. To investigate a causal link between principle-based agreements and performance, we implement a “nudge” intervention that induces more pairs to articulate principles. The intervention succeeds in coordinating more pairs on efficient quality immediately after the unforeseen change, but it fails to coordinate expectations on price, ultimately leading to conflicts and preventing an increase in long-run performance after the shock. Our results suggest that (1) principle-based agreements may improve organizational performance but (2) high-performing relational contracts may be difficult to build.