Christopher D. Sessums :: Blog :: Collaboration and Teacher Reflection

As I continue to develop my thoughts about using weblogs to support reflective thinking in teacher education, I am beginning to assemble a number of questions that might be useful in facilitating this process.

As I talk to teachers, tutors, instructors and professional educators across the globe, I have come to learn that reflective thinking, e.g., thinking about what works in the classroom, what doesn't, how you might do things differently, is not necessarily a common practice among educators.

Is it a matter of personality? Is it a time issue? Is it a learning style concern? Is it an orientation or familiarity issue, i.e., since I've never heard about it or seen it practiced/modelled, I'm not familiar with it and it's affect/effect.

I'm particularly interested in collaborative reflective thinking. I believe that if the collaborative environment is structured to provide regular feedback and encorporates a diversity of opinion, then there is a greater chance that the reflective thinking will more likely be constructive and meaningful.

I'm not interested in developing a collaborative, reflective thinking taxonomy per se. However, a guideline might be useful in order to hopefully foster a constructive use of thought and space.

Weblogs offers several key features that I believe can support a constructive, collaborative, reflective environment. For one, it's convenient. The medium supports self-expression and "voice." Collaboration and connectivity can be conducted efficiently especially interms of participants' time or place. You can access and link to a number of appropriate resources. It provides multiple communication channels (e.g., you can write, record and/or cast your thoughts). Publishing your thoughts online forces you to concretize your thoughts.

Collaborative weblogs promote the idea of learners as creators of knowledge, not merely consumers of information. A collaborative environment like the one I'm suggesting can allow peers to be seen as valuable sources of knowledge and ideas; a connection that participants can rely on beyond any formal classroom structure, i.e., collaboration leading to a community of interest.

The drawbacks I can see involve the idea of publishing your thoughts, i.e., exposing yourself to others, especially if you do not feel compelled or interested in doing such. If you're not a good writer or are technologically "all thumbs," then you might feel overwhelmed by the medium. If participants do not see themselves of having anything of value to contribute, they might see this whole endeavor as a grand waste of time.

It's probably also worth mentioning that without a clear intention or purpose for collaborative inquiry/reflective thinking, you cannot really expect any type of results.

In a related sense, I'm also curious about how much guidance is needed for effective collaborative, reflective thinking among teaching professionals. Are strategies needed to get participants to respond to one anothers thoughts? Are rubrics needed by teacher educators to assess how well participants engage each other? How should we, as teacher educators, assess the quality of the dialogue?

Sorensen and Takle (2002) noted that within online discussion forums, "having forced requirements on the collaborative dialogue prompted students to engage in dialogue and actually caused more interactivity than was required" (p.28). This goes against the grain of the learner-centered, connectivist philosophy that I feel is critical in creating and sustaining life-long learning/learners.

Reflective thinking receives a lot of press in the teaching and learning professional development arena. However, collaborative, reflective thinking is not always clearly articulated or given a clear definition of how it can best be employed (or to what end). What should educators be reflecting on or about? What distinguishes between good and undesirable practice? What should be the priorities of philosophically informed critical reflection? These questions provide sufficient ground for introducing what writers like Peter McLaren dub “critical pedagogy.” Critical pedagogy serves as a theoretical starting point for educators to question the power structures inherent in both society-at-large and in the teaching and learning process. If we start with the premise that schooling itself is a political and value-laden process, teacher reflection can play an important role in ultimately transforming and improving our society, our world, as a whole.

I plan on coming back to this notion in future posts. Until then....