Introduction to collaboration

Why is collaboration important?

In the modern workforce, people work in diverse teams across time zones, continents, and cultures. For example, the development of a new product requires engineers, psychologists, computer programmers, and marketers to work together from different countries. All members of the team must have strong collaboration skills and integrate their individual expertise and ideas into one product. To be successful, they need to:

• Work respectfully,  
• Communicate clearly, and
• Make compromises to accomplish a common goal.

How do we prepare learners for such experiences? To begin, we must develop a shared understanding of what collaboration means. The component skills required to collaborate effectively include:

• Negotiation,
• Conflict resolution,
• Agreement,
• Distribution of tasks,
• Open communication, and
• Integration of ideas into a coherent whole.

What does collaboration look like?

Educators frequently describe collaboration in different ways. To design learning environments that promote collaboration skills, educators must first have a shared understanding and language to describe it. Once they know what collaboration looks like and what skills it requires, they are better able to plan for it. By understanding the meaning of collaboration, educators design learning activities that target the development of skills necessary for learners to be effective collaborators.

Placing learners in small groups and giving them a task doesn't guarantee collaboration. To learn effective collaboration skills, children must work with others in specific ways. Activities that promote collaboration require learners to: 

• Share responsibility, 
• Make substantive decisions together, and 
• Work interdependently. 

Such a learning culture moves away from a model of individuality to one of collaboration. This doesn't happen by accident; it needs to be designed, and it requires educators to play a significant role in ensuring genuine collaboration is taking place.