Exploring processes of collaborative creativity—The role of emotions in children''s joint creative writing

This paper reports a study on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. Based on socio-cultural theory, the central aim of the research was to contribute to current understanding of young children's creativity, and describe ways in which peer collaboration can resource, stimulate and enhance classroom-based creative writing. The study drew on longitudinal observations of ongoing classroom activities in year 3 and year 4 classrooms, working with 24 children (12 pairs) aged 7–9 in England. The pairs’ collaborative creative writing sessions were observed and recorded using video and audio equipment in the literacy classroom and in the ICT suite with 2–4 recordings per pair. A functional model was developed to analyse cognitive processes associated with creative text composition (engagement and reflection) via the in-depth study of collaborative discourse. Based on the analysis of paired talk, the study has identified discourse patterns and collaborative strategies which facilitate sharedness and thus support joint creative writing activities. A key finding was the centrality of emotions in the observed creative writing sessions. This paper discusses the role of emotion-driven thinking in phases of shared engagement. The study has implications for creativity research and pedagogy, revealing the special features of shared creative thinking. It also contributes to the current methodological debate about how best to analyse collaborative discourse, highlighting the need to explore the generalisability and domain specificity of existing characterisations of productive groupwork.     

Teacher stance in creative learning: A study of progression

This paper reports focused findings from a qualitative scoping study undertaken in four sites in England focusing on progression in creative learning (PICL) (February 2005–January 2006), funded by Creative Partnerships, a national development programme. The study sought to explore how progression in creative learning can be described in two curriculum areas. The paper introduces the analytic framework which emerged from the study, and summarises some of the key findings, with a particular focus on teacher stance, taking this slice of analysis further than is done in the original research report and discussing in particular teachers’ attitudes toward creative learning and toward teaching for creative learning.     

Action learning and the creative industries: the efficacy of an action learning set in building collaboration between a university and creative industries

In the UK, the creative sector has been identified as a key strand in the economic recovery strategy. Composed of mostly micro and small enterprises often grouping together for particular commissions and projects, there is a tendency to operate primarily through a series of networks made up of peers. This paper presents the outcomes of a ‘peer-to-peer business programme’, or action learning set, involving 10 participants from the creative sector over a period of 6 months. The programme was based on a ‘Six-Squared’ model where participants would address their own needs alongside participating in, and developing further understanding of, action learning sets in order to establish sets with others. Assessment of outcomes indicated that the programme allowed participants to develop new skills with peers, network and strengthen relationships and collaborate in a university programme. The paper concludes by suggesting that, within the context of a growing and vibrant creative industries sector and increasing pressures on universities to engage with the business community, it is essential to develop flexible, peer-led and innovative models of collaboration.     

The discourse of collaborative creative writing: Peer collaboration as a context for mutual inspiration

Drawing on socio-cultural theory, this paper focuses on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. The central aim of the reported research was to contribute to our understanding of young children's creativity, and describe ways in which peer collaboration can resource, stimulate and enhance classroom-based creative writing activities. The study drew on longitudinal observations of ongoing activities in Year 3 and Year 4 classrooms (children aged 7-9) in England. Selected pairs’ collaborative creative writing activities were observed and recorded using video and audio equipment in the literacy classroom and in the ICT suite (13 pairs, about 2-4 occasions each).The research built on the contextualised, qualitative analysis of the social and cognitive processes connected to shared creative text composition. Using an analytic tool developed specifically for creative writing tasks, we linked collaborative and discursive features to cognitive processes associated with writing (‘engagement’ and ‘reflection’). The research has identified discourse patterns and collaborative strategies which facilitate ‘sharedness’ and thus support joint creative writing activities.The paper discusses two significant aspects of the observed paired creative writing discourse. It reports the significance of emotions throughout the shared creative writing episodes, including joint reviewing. Also, it shows children's reliance on collaborative floor (Coates, 1996), with discourse building on interruptions and overlaps. We argue that such use of collaborative floor was indicative of joint focus and intense sharing, thus facilitating mutual inspiration in the content generation phases of the children's writing activities. These findings have implications for both educational research and practice, contributing to our understanding of how peer interaction can be used to resource school-based creative activities.     

Teachers and students together in a professional learning community

Students represent the majority of the people in a school organisation, but are rarely considered as participants in literature on professional learning communities (PLC). This article explored a PLC with the legitimate participation of students in the classroom. Data was based on interviews with 11 teachers. Community of practice theory provides 3 dimensions that were used as analytical tools: shared repertoire, mutual engagement, and joint enterprise. Shared repertoire refers to how teachers introduce and develop tools for learning; mutual engagement to how to establish relationships and atmosphere with a respect for learning; and joint enterprise to how students’ associations and experiences are used to shape content knowledge in planning for learning. We conclude that the theory of community of practice is useful to describe and understand the formation of a PLC.     

The impact of a living learning community on first-year engineering students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of an engineering living and learning community (ELC) on first-year engineering students. A control group of non-ELC students was used to compare the experiences of the ELC participants. Analysis of survey data showed that there was significant differences between the ELC students and the non-ELC students in how they responded to questions regarding social support, academic support, connectedness to campus, and satisfaction with the College of Engineering and the institution as a whole. Particularly, there were significant differences between ELC and non-ELC students for questions related to feeling like part of an engineering community, having strong relationships with peers, belonging to a supportive peer network, studying with engineering peers, and spending time with classmates outside of class.     

The transformation of an online learning community from an organised facility to an organic fraternity

An online community of learning within a distance doctoral programme was explored to determine if and how the community evolved and transformed over time. This part-time doctoral programme gathers students into cohorts and runs a structured community with students and faculty for 18 months before students confirm candidatures and begin individual work with their own supervisors for the remaining 4–5 years of study. In particular, this study sought to determine if and how the community of learning continued and developed after the 18 months of shared structured learning had been completed. This research was initiated and conducted by the students, giving insights into the community from the students’ perspective. Findings are that the community has survived and will continue in the short-term at least, but with fewer members and operating in a different manner. There has been an ongoing transformation of the community, largely driven by choice and necessity.     

A multilevel analysis of the impact of a professional learning community, faculty trust in colleagues and collective efficacy on teacher commitment to students

This study investigated the relationships between a professional learning community (PLC), faculty trust in colleagues, teachers’ collective efficacy, and their commitment to students. The findings from exploratory factor analysis indicated that three clear components could be extracted from the scale of Professional Learning Communities Assessment (PLCA) in a Chinese setting. Multilevel analyses was conducted to investigate how school-level variables, including the three factors of PLC, faculty trust in colleagues, and collective teacher efficacy, affect teachers’ commitment to students. The findings from the Hong Kong teacher sample indicated that two PLC factors including collective learning and application and supportive conditions - structures, and the factors faculty trust in colleagues and collective teacher efficacy could significantly and positively account for the school-level variances of teachers’ commitment to students. Another PLC factor, shared and supportive leadership, was not identified as a significant predictor to teachers’ commitment to students in a Chinese setting. The findings of school-level regressions indicated that all three factors of PLC as well as faculty trust in colleagues could significantly and positively affect teachers’ collective efficacy on instructional strategies. However, only one PLC factor, collective learning and application, and the factor faculty trust in colleagues were significant predictors to teachers’ collective efficacy on student discipline.     

Professional learning opportunities from uncovering cover stories of science and science teaching for a scientist-in-transition

Members of particular communities produce and reproduce cultural practices. This is an important consideration for those teacher educators who need to prepare appropriate learning experiences and programs for scientists, as they attempt to change careers to science teaching. We know little about the transition of career-changing scientists as they encounter different contexts and professional cultures, and how their changing identities might impact on their teaching practices. In this narrative inquiry of the stories told by and shared between career-changing scientists in a teacher-preparation program, we identify cover stories of science and teaching. More importantly, we show how uncovering these stories became opportunities for one of these scientists to learn about what sorts of stories of science she tells or should tell in science classrooms and how these stories might impact on her identities as a scientist–teacher in transition. We highlight self-identified contradictions and treat these as resources for further professional learning. Suggestions for improving the teacher-education experiences of scientist–teachers are made. In particular, teacher educators might consider the merits of creating opportunities for career-changing scientists to share their stories and for these stories to be retold for different audiences.

Creating foundations for collaboration in schools: Utilizing professional learning communities to support teacher candidate learning and visions of teaching

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the power of professional collaboration, the norm in most schools is teachers working in isolation. Our study examined the impact of multiple layers of professional collaboration intentionally integrated into a one-year preservice teacher education program working in two elementary schools. Analysis of 23 teacher candidates' written reflections, focus group interviews, and classroom observations indicated that supported by collaboration with colleagues, they developed the skills and commitment to teach each student for understanding. Based on our research, we propose a shift in teacher education toward collaborative inquiry about teaching and learning within school/university partnerships.     

Interacting for learning: Digital portfolios for a learning community in a university course

This study investigates student interactions in a blog-based learning community in a university course. In addition, this study explores the dynamics of group interactions in individual blog-based environments compared with collaborative wiki-based educational activities. A learning community of 56 graduate students wrote individual blogs and weekly group summaries using a wiki environment. The posts were analyzed by identifying a post content type and explicit feedback promotions, and by counting the number of the blogger's own comments and the number of others’ comments per post, received from peers studying in the same versus the other offline group. The results show that choosing the appropriate type of post content (i.e., sharing experiences rather than providing information, explicitly calling for feedback, and providing the blogger's own comments) augments peer interaction in a blog environment, thus explaining 51.4% of variance in peer comments. Group interactions through comments in individual blogs, without the possibility of changing one another's content, seem to be non-intrusive and prompt interactions with offline as well as with online peers. In contrast, actual editing of texts through multi-authored collaborative wikis remained affected by student offline former acquaintance. The results are discussed in terms of social interactions and pedagogical beliefs.     

Learning style,sense of community and learning effectiveness in hybrid learning environment

The purpose of this study is to investigate how hybrid learning instruction affects undergraduate students' learning outcome, satisfaction and sense of community. The other aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between students' learning style and learning conditions in mixed online and face-to-face courses. A quasi-experimental design was used and 140 sophomores were recruited in this study. Students' learning outcomes, satisfaction, sense of community and learning styles were measured. Results showed that students in a hybrid course had significantly higher learning scores and satisfaction than did students of the face-to-face courses. The result also indicated that students of hybrid learning classrooms felt a stronger sense of community than did students in a traditional classroom setting. Analysis of learning style indicated that learning style had significant effect on learning outcome in the study group. Accommodator learners had higher e-learning effectiveness than other style learners. Possible reasons of results were discussed.     

Learning and collaboration in pre-service teacher education: Narrative analysis in a service learning experience at Andalusian public schools

In this article we take up the task of presenting and analyzing a Service Learning experience developed in a class of the major in Primary Education Teaching at the University of Malaga, in Andalusia, Spain. It consists of a narrative analysis of autobiographical texts –final reports and online interviews – produced by pre-service teachers. We aimed to understand how participants learned about the teaching profession throughout their trajectory in the project. The results indicate pre-service teachers (1) learn by feeling, (2) learn by belonging, (3) learn by placing action in a social perspective, and (4) learn by sharing experiences with others.     

EGP教师与ESP学生学习共同体的构建策略之管见

随着外语+专业的复合型英语人才培养模式的确定,如何理顺ESP与EGP的教学关系成了热议的话题之一,其中,在如何处理EGP教师和ESP学生的关系上,学习共同体教学组织形式不但可为EGP教师自身的发展找到新的突破口,还可为ESP学生的专业方向学习奠定知识基础、储备获取知识的能力、思维能力和创新能力,同时也使得ESP课程与EGP课程的衔接变得不再生硬,而是更加顺理成章。     

Collaborative teacher learning across foci of collaboration: Perceived activities and outcomes

This study compared teacher collaboration with differing foci, in terms of various learning activities and learning outcomes. A total of 411 teachers from 49 primary schools participated by completing a questionnaire. Foci of collaboration explained significant differences in the frequency with which teachers perceived learning activities and learning outcomes to occur in their collaboration with colleagues. Moreover, the focus of collaboration explained a considerable amount of between-schools differences in teachers' reported learning activities and learning outcomes. These results suggest that the school context and the focus of collaboration are related and that these both influence collaborative teacher learning.     

More than just a group: teacher collaboration and learning in the workplace

Teaching is often characterized as an isolated activity, yet opportunities for teachers to work and learn together in schools are increasing. Underlying this shift is the view that as teachers work on new practices and teaching challenges together, they will express varied perspectives, reveal different teaching styles and experiences, and stimulate reflection and professional growth. Despite strong research interest in teacher learning groups, few studies have looked at the relationship between teachers' conversations and collaboration outside the classroom and their actual classroom teaching. Drawing on data from a larger study of literacy instruction with middle‐school teachers, this article describes how three teachers participated in an ongoing literacy program with a research group. Two were seventh‐ and eighth‐grade language‐arts teachers, the third was a special‐education teacher who taught a substantially separate class of cognitively delayed and learning‐disabled students. Case studies of each teacher draw on meeting observations, classroom observations and interviews to describe how each participated in after‐school meetings, how they used the work of the group in the classroom, and how they brought teaching successes and challenges back to the group. Although each of the teachers participated actively in the teacher learning group and changed their practice, the teachers with the most advanced teaching of literacy practices did not bring that expertise into the teacher group as fully as they might have. The analysis raises questions about how teachers participate and learn and how to structure teacher groups to maximize teacher learning.     

Stages of collaboration and the realities of professional learning communities

Although professional learning communities are often promoted as unique learning opportunities, little is known about how they get started and how they are sustained. For this reason, group members are often unprepared, and then frustrated, by inevitable group tensions. With this in mind, Karl Weick's [(1979). The social psychology of organizing. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley] model of means convergence was used to analyze the social dynamics of a small group of Middle Years teachers over a 2-year period as they implemented Egan's [(1992). Imagination in teaching and learning: The middle school years. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press; (1997). The educated mind: How cognitive tools shape our understanding. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press] theory of Imagination and Learning to their practice. Along with the analysis of journal entries, focus-group discussions, and individual interviews, Weick's (1979) four developmental stages of collaboration provide a broader understanding of why conflict occurs in learning communities and its effect on collaborative learning.     

Impact of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction in China: The mediating roles of teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration

Teacher job satisfaction is a heated topic worldwide. Among the possible factors influencing teacher job satisfaction, distributed leadership is very important one. Given very few studies have investigated the effects of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction through teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration, this paper is important. It is expected to provide international readers with a better understanding of how these variables are practised in the Chinese context. Specifically, we aim to achieve two goals. The first goal is to investigate the direct impact of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction and the second one is to explore how distributed leadership indirectly affects teacher job satisfaction through teacher autonomy and teacher collaboration. The data are from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) (n = 3976). Structural equation modeling revealed statistically significant positive effects of distributed leadership on teacher autonomy, teacher collaboration, and teacher job satisfaction, respectively. The further analyses indicated that the indirect effects of distributed leadership on teacher job satisfaction through teacher autonomy and professional collaboration were statistically significant. However, distributed leadership had no indirect effect on job satisfaction via exchange and co-ordination. Based on the findings, we propose some suggestions to improve teacher job satisfaction, such as strengthening communications between school leaders and teachers, and providing adequate autonomy to teachers. The detailed relationships among these variables are discussed in connection with Chinese educational context.