Towards a framework for creative online collaboration: A research on challenges and context

The OnCreate project was initiated by ten universities with expertise in collaborative work in online-based learning environments and explores the specific challenges of implementing university courses in creative disciplines in such an environment. The first research phase comprises a literature search on creativity and its contextual factors in online collaboration in an educational setting. From this research a first set of possible key challenges and contextual key factors has been selected and applied to categorize the results of interviews and surveys on current good practice in creative online collaboration among experienced online teachers from the partner universities. From the key findings we formulate hypotheses to guide future research towards a framework for creative online collaboration. At the same time, the results can serve as inspiration for the educational practice. Notable observations of the good practice research among the partner universities are that they realise innovative collaboration concepts usually on mashed-up environments of state-of-the-art web services rather than on the omnipresent learning management systems (such as Moodle or Blackboard). Also, they show a paradigm shift from teaching to coaching and promotion of an open peer-review culture among the students.     

A Performance Evaluation of the Collaborative Efforts in an Online Group Research Project

This study investigated the performance of 13 graduate students' collaborative efforts toward a group research project in an Instructional Analysis, Design, and Evaluation online course. Gaps between course expectations from the instructor and student collaborative performance were identified through the review of the team agreement, the use of surveys, and focus group interviews. Performance gaps occurred in the areas of communication, assignment completion, and group cohesiveness. These performance gaps were caused by lack of knowledge and skills, motivation, and/or organizational support. Appropriate intervention strategies such as effective group interaction and communication, building relationships and establishing trust, periodic review of team agreements, mini‐training sessions on collaboration and supportive behaviors, and role differentiations and collaborative task designation are presented. Instructors who are interested in incorporating group research projects into their future online courses may consider implementing these interventions to facilitate the improvement of students' collaborative efforts.     

The quest to cultivate an ecocritical awareness in educational technology scholarship: A question of disciplinary focus in the age of environmental crisis

Although many academic disciplines are now experiencing a process of “greening” as scholars seek to cultivate an ecocritical awareness within disciplinary scholarship, Neil Selwyn notes that such ecocritical concerns rarely feature in the field of educational technology. In this paper, I bring Selwyn's call for ecocritical awareness in the field of educational technology into conversation with emerging scholarly discussions in the fields of ecojustice ethics, ecojustice education, and information and communications technology sustainability. In so doing, I expand the existing conversation about the environmental impact of educational technology consumption to argue that the process of cultivating an ecocritical awareness in the field of educational technology requires refining the discipline's focus to include the full lifespan of educational technology devices and the global inequities that feature during the production and disposal of these devices.

Practitioner Notes

What is already known about this topic

• Despite substantive scholarship recognizing the environmental impact of the globalized digital technology supply chain, the field of educational technology has minimally considered the ecojustice implications of the material nature of educational technology devices when examining the environmental impact of these devices.

What this paper adds

• In this paper, I argue that the reason why the field of educational technology has overlooked the environmental impact of device production and disposal is because of its almost exclusive focus on device use. I argue that cultivating an ecocritical awareness in the field of educational technology requires the discipline to expand its focus beyond device use in two ways: (a) to include device production and disposal and (b) to consider the global injustices that occur in these parts of the digital technology life cycle. As such, I build upon Selwyn and others to argue for the cultivation of ecojustice concerns in emerging conversations about ethics in the field of educational technology.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• The process of cultivating ecocritical awareness within the field of educational technology requires expanding the scope and focus of the discipline beyond device use to include device production and disposal. The planned obsolescence behind these devices maximizes the environmental harm at these stages and the global injustices associated with them. Educators and educational leaders seeking to employ educational technology in ethical and environmentally sustainable ways must consider these implications from the global digital technology supply chain.

     

‘Cracks’ in the scholarly communications system: Insights from a longitudinal international study of early career researchers

• 170 early career researchers interviewed three times over 2 years, have uniquely contributed towards a stress test of scholarly communications and cracks have been identified.
• The perfect storm created by the convergence of millennial values and the pandemic appears to have fast-forwarded the cracking process, perhaps, for the good.
• The cracks in question are: (1) peer review; (2) reputational assessment; (3) unethical/questionable practices; (4) collaboration; (5) networking.