Counter dependency & Fight or Trust & Structure? Or even maybe Work & Productivity?
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This topic – Learning in communities – networked & collaborative learning, have been both more familiar, but at the same time quite intellectually demanding for me. It has a very metacognitive approach, and we are going deeper into sociological and psychological theories with terminology that is not natural to me, being a biomedical scientist by training.
Nevertheless, I have to say it has been a most enjoyable journey, and it had made me reflect a lot about how well organized this ONL181 course is. How the course leaders, facilitators and co-facilitators have thought about all things we are taught under this topic, and have organized this course bearing all these issues in mind. Thus, it´s fair to say they are leading by example.
Kay Oddone makes a distinction between online learning communities and online learning networks1 where the latter is characterized by usually much larger groups, where membership is changing over time, with a more organic, undefined structure. I see our PBL group more as a community, with known members and stronger ties. As I have very little experience from being part of online networks, my reflections are based on communities rather than networks.
I have reflected a lot about the group process in our ONL181 PBL group, but also how I can work to improve my own teaching. As group processes takes place both online and “IRL”, I think a lot of my inspiration and reflections is useful both in virtual and online networked learning.
It made me go back to Susan Wheelan´s work about the different phases a group go through2,3. According to her theory the group goes through four phases (excluding the fifth phase of the group dissociating). The first stage, termed “Dependency & Inclusion”, is when we are building relations, but is not very productive. Focus is on having a good time together and looking for similarities and bonds between different members in the group. This stage is usually followed by stage 2, termed “Counter dependency & Fight”, the least productive stage of the group, where we get more aware of our differences and conflicts can occur. Having been through that more turbulent phase, a well-functioning group move on to stage 3; “Trust & Structure” where focus is less on the leader and relations, but more on work tasks and results. The most productive phase is stage 4 which is also termed accordingly, “Work & Productivity”. These four phases can also shortly be described as Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
I have thought a lot about this and I very rarely see the stage 2 in a group process, which makes me wonder if we never get beyond Stage 1? I do feel that our PBL group is focusing on the work tasks and are having trust in each other, so I wonder whether stage 2 is inevitable or whether a group can jump directly from stage 1 to 3. Or is it me who doesn´t (want to) see the conflicts?
These two last weeks has also made me reflect a lot on aims and goals. I think it is of great value in forming a well-functioning group, probably even more important in an online group forming process, to discuss the aims and goals of the different participants. As Kay Oddone states in her video1, the learner is driven by own goals. Most of the times, like in this course and the courses where I teach, the groups are not formed by the members themselves. Thus, being open with our different aims and goals, but also about the level of ambition we each have, and the reasons we are in a specific community. And how do I see my role in the group – is this a “place” to meet with peers to tell them my knowledge, or is this a place where we together process our knowledge and help each other, and it´s ok to ask for help?
Finally, I have been reflecting on how to give feedback also to the group and not only to individuals. One way could be to focus on the functions and work being/having been performed by the group. What worked well, what worked less well, and why? I think this could be a way to make it clearer to the group what the group is actually accomplishing.
1.) Wheelan, S.A. Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders. 5thEd.(SAGE Publications Ltd)