Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Collaborative Learning Communities
Collaborative Learning Communities
Ashley Hull
University of Calgary
EDER 603.21
Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................... 3
Role of Researcher................................................................................................................ 4
Research Statement............................................................................................................... 5
Methods of Inquiry.............................................................................................................. 11
Ethical Issues....................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 15
References........................................................................................................................... 17
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 3
Lifelong learning is a term many school districts across Canada employ within their
strategic plans to denote the importance of foundational educational skills in assisting students
on all educational pursuits, no matter their age or stage in life. Educators have long since realized
the value of learning within a social context and professional teaching staff have integrated the
concepts of collaborative learning communities into the classroom with varying degrees of
success (Oxford, 1997). Despite these efforts throughout the years, little research has examined
the use of collaborative learning outside of a standardized, Western, context. Many qualitative
studies justify their research based on too unique of circumstances or contexts to apply current
data to their situation (Creswell, 2014); however, based on personal experience, I argue that
broader cultural lenses and vastly different contexts help illuminate and offer grounds for
introspective and reflexive work that may not have otherwise occurred.
For my research, I aim to examine the effect collaborative learning communities have on
personal and professional growth within the context of matriarchal multigenerational classrooms
of the Bundelkhand region in rural India, as well as from a comprehensive literature review on
the topic. This examination will occur under a social constructivist lens, maintaining a human-
journals, notes, written memories and informal interviews I conducted in the fall of 2017.
Beyond the benefit of self-illumination during the process of story-telling (Ellis, 2004), I aim to
present a narrative that allows the reader to reflect and form their own personal meaning from the
composed text (Gillmore, 2011). While I cannot infer what each individual may gain through the
careful consideration and crafting of this research, one would hope that improved understanding,
Role of Researcher
no different than any other educator who has arrived at a problem of practice. The summation of
experience and profound learning and growth opportunities over the years created for me
multiple entry points from which I could examine a problem of practice. I have unearthed a deep
and impassioned stance as a social constructivist, believing in the collective objective of adding
to understanding and providing meaning in this world through lived human experience
(Creswell, 2014). The personal and subjective make for fascinating and profound insights into
our selves and our environments. Additionally, I resonate with the personal connection
associated with the approach to this worldview: human to human connection for the sake of
understanding and broadening views of cultural norms and historical impact. Interpretation by a
researcher cannot reflect a perfect understanding, however the personal growth and creation of
had studied in my first year of undergrad studies at the University of Victoria in 2002. Studying
away from home as a young seventeen-year-old, I stepped onto a path of self-exploration and
into a world of academia that pushed my boundaries of understanding and worldview. It was my
History of India class that impacted me most heavily. As those transformative moments often do,
that semester implanted a seed of inquiry that would be fulfilled 15 years later as an intern with a
social development group in India, participating as a Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Scholar for the
University of Calgary. However, much had changed for me in my personal circumstances. I had
now been a wife of 14 years and a mother of five young children. I participated in a very
patriarchal faith and yet had a very non-conservative, feminist core belief. Navigating my three-
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 5
month internship would cause me to reevaluate and question every facet of self while learning,
empathizing and growing to love the people I met throughout the assignment. This reflexive
process brought me deeper understanding into the beauty and power of the female will and
pursuit of knowledge and empowerment. These stories became the inspiration of my research
Research Statement
experiences in India and a review on the literature of collaborative learning communities. At this
stage in the research, collaborative learning communities will be generally defined as the
The central question posed places collaborative learning communities as the central
personal/professional growth? My current two sub-questions include: 1) What are the ways in
do collaborative learning communities shape cultural landscapes? The first sub-question lends
itself to an investigation of the feelings and impressions I had while interning in India, while the
second helps blend my Eastern experiences with the Western classroom and educational model.
Feedback from my final slide presentation question the linkage of the sub-questions to my
central question. I will investigate this over the coming weeks and seek out the assistance of my
As my research intention, methodology and question has shifted to my current one most
recently, the literature I collected for LT2 is no longer relevant. Exploration of the various
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 6
methodologies helped inform me as a future researcher; however, for the purposes of this
assignment, my previous experience, data collection and research on autoethnography will better
serve me moving forward. My approach to examining topics for research include looking for
landscapes. Each of these topics helps inform and provide research to support, explain or even
contrast my already-lived experiences and data. As a preliminary filter, I will attempt to limit my
selection of studies to use those written by female authors as I feel particularly passionate about
creating space for female voices. This aligns with my social constructivist viewpoint, as my
general sense of belief supports the notion that it is the people who create the phenomenon, not
the other way around. As an autoethnographic study authored by a woman who examines
personal and professional transformation because of her interactions with other women, I feel
many of the recent studies published examine the use of assistive technology or online realms of
learning (Hitosugi, 2016; Sotomayer, 2016; Edmondson, 2012). Others view the creation of
community as a phenomenon that must extend beyond the digital plane and into a physical
meeting space, such as a classroom (Lichtenstein, 2005). No matter the building space, defining
the term learning community remains a challenge that, to present, researchers have yet to agree
upon (West & Williams, 2017). On an instructional level, leadership roles are examined by the
successful implementation of these collaborative learning communities (Harris, Jones & Baba,
2013; Mullen & Hutinger, 2008). What is currently lacking in the literature is a student-centric
approach or view to the impact collaborative learning communities can have. Kooy (2015)
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 7
emphasizes the teacher-student relationship and value of fostering these connections and
implications for learning environments, nevertheless, very few additional studies examine the
non-online sphere of learning from the student side. Herein presents an opportunity for my
employed to find studies on the impact of homogenous gendered classes. Much has been
discussed within the formal structure of either private or public education including case studies
and evaluations of the impact of single-sex classes on student achievement (Hart, 2016; Martin
& Beese, 2016; Scoggings, 2009; Laster, 2004). Shifting focus to women’s literacy programs
likewise identifies gaps in the literature that addressed education for rural women. Studies
overwhelmingly assumed a health focus, despite narrowing topics to those dealing specifically
with education. There is some promising research and interest around female empowerment
(Acharya, Jimba & Wakai, 2007) where foundational literacy skills supported a larger
community development goal, as well as a longitudinal study of impact and women’s agency
within the complexity of negotiating within the power structures of Northern India (Ghose &
Mullick, 2015). Overall, my impression of preliminary research on the topic is one of need to
gather bits and pieces from a multitude of sources to explore the complexities and intricacies of
multigenerational classrooms, a topic I was expecting a lot of literature on due to its popularity
and current “hot topic” appeal. Is this an indication that there is more talk than action/research on
the topic? Do educators like the idea of integrating multi/intergenerational teaching and learning
in classrooms but find it practically challenging? Pedagogical methods and considerations have
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 8
been examined from a lens to support learners across the generations (Notaianni, Curry-
Lourenco & Palmer, 2009), as well as the impact “older” mentors have on expanding struggling
Moving forward, I will focus on foundational work of experts in each of these areas and
examine who they cite as sources, looking for relevance to my over-arching central question
without being too critically discerning, knowing that a simple phrase or idea presented in one
study may be the turning point in my literature review. Locating appropriate studies will require
only classroom and multigenerational learning to be so broad of topics that there would be too
much literature to refine from. Additionally, I will aim to search out case studies from similar
My overall impressions also indicate that it will be a challenge to apply literature that is
based on data collected from formal, mostly Western, classrooms to my experiences in rural
learning communities. Here, my research will present an extreme divergence from what has been
published. I have yet to locate a specific niche from which my research can stem, though it may
find more relevance among the public health category where more similar publications have
been recorded.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 9
Conceptualizing an Inquiry
assumes a narrative form of writing, the autoethnographic methodology maintains the reflexive
process I feel is paramount to sharing lived experience. Here, personal and social context is
valued and maintained throughout the approach (Reed-Danahay, 1997) as well as cultural
considerations applied (Chang, 2008). What brought me to this approach was the
transformational experiences I had while getting to know the local village women in rural India.
Some of these interactions were structured as I fulfilled my assignment on site, whereas others
occurred as social visits and were unplanned. However, none of the interactions were
purposefully designed with the intention of personal or professional growth. This occurred as I
worked through my own feelings and recognition of the central phenomenon at play:
collaborative learning communities. The time apart from my family and native culture also
proved to be fertile grounds for a lot of introspective work, viewing my situation in relation to
those I was now serving and working with abroad. Since I had become aware of the
diligent in maintaining a journal, noting impressions and collecting photos that represented my
journey.
communities and personal/professional growth has certainly been emergent, and while not all of
my current documentation reflects or suits my current purposes, having a lens from which to
view my entries and experiences has been nothing short of illuminating. Emerging design, I
believe, will undertake more of a self-realization and actualization piece as I recount my stories
and feelings and make meaning throughout my research. Likewise, the fact that subjectivity and
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 10
emotionality is considered a strength in the method help me position myself more authentically
as a researcher and the influence and bias I bring to the table (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011).
Literature collected and analyzed will inevitably provide another avenue for understanding
transformative growth and will assist in clarifying the process I have experienced.
Over the course of this short semester I have struggled with my multi-facetted interests
leading me down one path and then another to consider for research. Perhaps I have a
researcher’s heart! I am inquisitive and love challenging myself to meet ambitious goals, which
are all facets of my learning style and that bring me to education as a career and passion. I take
comfort in Creswell’s (2014) assurance that the evolutionary process of defining a problem of
practice is typical and oftentimes necessary in research endeavors. Nevertheless, I believe I have
landed on a purpose that can speak the most truth and profundity of self.
understanding. However, I am acutely aware that this approach must serve a higher purpose than
that of personal growth and fulfilment. In her account of returning from Kenya to her western
Each person who listened to my story was reminded of his or her own journey. Their
stories were different from mine, but they found familiarity: a calling to help, embarking
on adventures that taught them about multiple ways of being, weaving an old life with a
new experience. I was not supposed to teach people about my experience. I was to share a
story, which just happened to be mine, so that others could remember their own
I must affirm and commit in my research that my stories will serve as examples for challenging
assumptions and for inspiring personal growth beyond imposed or perceived limitations.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 11
Contrasting the male heteronormative culture in the Western traditional classrooms I’ve
experienced, the cultural landscape and context of the matriarchal, multigenerational classrooms
in India provided a strong sense of community that is certainly worthy of investigating further. If
collaborative learning communities are a desirable environment for learning, then curiosity and
consideration of how it is accomplished in other contexts should merit the research worthy of
investigation. As our education model moves away from competitive ranking systems and into
criterion-based systems (Guskey & Jung, 2012), I anticipate the phenomenon of collaborative
Methods of Inquiry
qualitative methodology, autoethnography takes the approach of exploring “the general, complex
set of factors surrounding the central phenomenon and present[ing] the broad, varied
perspectives or meanings that participants hold” (Creswell, 2014, p. 140). What I recognized in
my multiple re-writes of my research question was the need to keep the central phenomenon at
the core and permit the methods of data to be narrowed by my selected methodology. This
challenged my desire to tell the stories of the people I interacted with in India, nevertheless, I can
only speak to personal experience and interpretation as collecting new data is not possible at this
time in my life and career. Personal truth is not proven truth, and the design and reflexive
process will reflect this distinction. Following Creswell’s (2014) suggestions to present the
design as open and emerging, the words what and how were used to exclusively in draft and
matriarchal and multigenerational learners in addition to cultural landscapes. Each of these sub-
question topics present a new opportunity for researching current thoughts and data on
components of the learning environment I was a part of and observed in India. I plan to integrate
personal stories to supplement the current literature on each topic, giving a more human appeal,
again reflecting the social constructivist viewpoint I hold. Heading Hendricks’ (2016)
admonition, multiple sources including books, articles, dissertations and conference reports will
build the theoretical and practical application of the central phenomenon I selected of
collaborative leaning communities. Filtering for technical statistical information that is “not very
useful for informing practitioner research” (Hendricks, 2016, p. 34), I aim to analyze researched
information based on the lens I have selected for this problem of practice and remain committed
to keeping a human-centered approach. Again, I intend to utilize the female voice exclusively
when selecting studies to share within my research. These methods align with the
autoethnographic methodology and will help me stay both on time and within purpose on this
assignment.
I also must become personally aware that the process of revisiting these experiences will
cause some emotional triggers that cannot always be anticipated. In sharing my truth, I am
committing to remaining vulnerable throughout the research study. I may face criticism or
attributes in myself may cause personal pain or embarrassment when brought to light and written
down. Inevitably, this opening is a part of the transformative process and growth described in my
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 13
central question. I will have to focus my attention as a researcher and push past the personal
Despite the multiple computer-centric options for research organization, my tactile and
visual learning style will likely see me pulling and printing the resources I will analyze for my
literature review. Color coding based on trends, as well as sticky notes for thoughts and
impressions will be utilized as well. A one paragraph summary cover page will be written and
stapled to each article for quick review. As a method of triangulation, I plan to reach out to the
scholar I travelled and lived with in India and debrief concerning the stories I select to record in
my research. As she was present for some of these interactions and served as the first point of
contact each day with whom I would share my thoughts, she plays a vital role in contributing to
Ethical Issues
Based on the setting of my research, main ethical considerations will need to include how
data is presented regarding the individuals I interacted with as they will form the basic tenants of
the stories I will share. As Creswell (2014) asserts, as a researcher, I must first and foremost
protect the participants in my study. As these circumstances will have occurred nearly a year’s
time since writing, I must carefully examine my memories and ensure the closest alignment to
both accuracy as well as honesty. Coming from a different culture, asserting my experiences as
my own truths and not a definitive reflection of culture is also necessary. As much is very well
likely to be “lost in translation,” maintaining the lens on self will be paramount to the success
and the integrity of the research. A clear and articulated section regarding biases and
Precisely because of the language and the distance barriers of collecting additional data in
India, I have selected a methodology that utilizes my experience solely. This omits the need to
create a disclosure form or to undergo the lengthy ethics board process, which was a serious
concern when considering travel timelines to India to avoid less-productive festival seasons and
entry visa requirements. As the program I worked with served women ages 15-60, special
permissions and consent would also be required for the minors in the group, whose voices I most
certainly would have wanted to have represented in the study had I had selected a different
methodology.
Relational ethics, to act from the heart and mind (Ellis, 2007), must also be considered in
this form of research. Implications for both myself as the researcher and storyteller, as well as the
individual who shared the experience with me, must be measured. As my research question has
been emergent, the original intent and purpose of my time abroad served as a springboard to
where I land today. Though unintentional, my study will examine my interactions and feelings
from a new lens and will reflect stories of people that I do not have explicit consent to share.
and take precedence over accuracy in details (Tulus Owen, McRae, Adams & Vitale, 2009).
Considering a matter of heart, I must remain as objective as possible in my inquiry and must
consistently evaluate myself and my findings through the biases of my affinity towards the
cultural and the people of India. Despite some immensely challenging experiences, I have
selected to regard my time in India as positive and personally enriching; this choice inevitably
impacts the central research question regarding personal and professional growth. Mindset is
must try to remain objective during the data collection phase and then permit myself to enter that
Indian social development group with formal and informal ties to the University of Calgary, I
recognize the ethical implications and potential ramifications should something be shared that
risk and personal reputation may also be on the line, affecting potential professional
opportunities.
Conclusion
question, and perhaps more is yet to be done. This consistent revision is somewhat a familiar
process to me as an English teacher, though the public nature and online platform of sharing
represent new and somewhat uncomfortable parameters I have had to work within.
Circumstances of discomfort are not new to me now and they can be viewed as opportunities for
learning and growth. Similar to my interactions and feelings in India, with each new experience I
can hold strong to the sense of capacity, even when the results are not exactly what I would have
called a “success” in the past. By illustration, this course assumed a collaborative learning
community environment to help each individual reach their goals and objectives. Our divergent
topics stem from impassioned places of interests and our trajectories lead us into different
spheres personally and professionally, however the care and support provided was paramount to
us achieving our personal desires. This social context is not devoid in our current public schools,
but perhaps there is more to consider when we claim to support collective learning communities
My experiences and viewpoint suggest it is the people who bring these characteristics
with them to the classroom. A greater, social understanding and shift may ultimately be what my
study reveals is necessary to see improvements to our current competitive educational systems.
For now, at the tip of the arrow, what I can see is where I am and where I plan to go; a direct
result of the learning landscapes I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of thus far.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITIES 17
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