Collaboration and teaching and learning

This chapter looks at the collaboration process in regard to teaching and learning in the higher education context. Procedural knowledge is essential for collaborative learning as well as collaborative projects. The Taxonomy of Collaboration builds on the work of Bloom and others who have developed taxonomies for educational purposes. Elizabeth is in a position where she needs to work collaboratively with other research and programme/degree staff. All collaborative assignments involve interdependencies and shared decision-making. However, Parallel and Sequential Teams need to negotiate on more procedural bases, whereas Synergistic Teams must negotiate and collaborate on a more conceptual level. E-learning offers an ideal opportunity to learn and practice ways to work together and think collaboratively. Three are processes used by nearly all collaborations: reflection, dialogue, and review. The other three describe work design options: parallel, sequential, or synergistic approaches used by groups to complete the task or project.