An exploration of a True Collaborative Learning Environment and its challenges, in an Irish Higher Education Classroom Corinne Power O’Mahony Thesis Submitted in part for the award of Doctor of Education June 2017 Acknowledgements This journey could not have been accomplished, nor this document produced, without the help and support of many people. Initially I would like to thank my Dean of School, Dr. Tom O’Toole and my Head of Department, Joan McDonald whose encouragement, support and goodwill enabled me to do this. My thanks to Sandra Haberlin school secretary. The staff in the business school office and Maria and Patricia in inter-library loans. Geraldine in computer services, and Derek and Sandra in reprographics. To the EdD faculty and cohort who travelled this path with me, thank you for expertise and company, you made this a memorable four years. There are no words sufficient to thank Professor Kathryn Ecclestone, a fantastic supervisor, whose good humour, support and patience never ceased to amaze me. I have to thank my research participants without whom this would not have been possible. To Felicity, thank you for your time. To the girls coffee returns to normal, I promise! Rebecca, you know this is ‘all’ your fault, but thanks. Trish, four years without a row, the time flew through stress and tears (mine) and lots of laughter (yours), I couldn’t have done it without you! Finally, to my parents who always said education is never a load, thank you. To my husband Alan who is always there, and my children India and Bryan, the good news is I’m back. i Abstract This research explores the challenges of one innovative ‘true collaborative learning’ environment in an Irish higher education classroom. It investigates the peer learning literature, focusing on four elements: ‘student’, ‘tutor’, ‘topic’ and ‘interaction’. Extrapolating from the literature, the study defines true collaborative learning in context and acknowledges the place of learning culture. The ethnographic insider approach to this research is acknowledged and explored. A single small-scale case study design frame was used to focus on gaining a deeper understanding of this setting. The researcher observed and recorded the sessions, maintained a reflective diary and in order to balance the findings, explored students’ perspective in a focus group at the end of the research period. The recordings were viewed holistically and analysed through the four elements, funnelling the data through verbal, non-verbal and multimodal themes. The findings revealed the importance of trust, communication, honesty and openness in the process, highlighting the role of a particular type of relationship between tutor and students, and student and student in the TCL classroom. The research concludes that the challenges associated with enacting true collaborative learning hinge on a subtle set of tutors’ skills, dispositions and educational goals, while balancing the cultural dynamics at play, components not easily aligned nor achieved. ii Table of Contents 1 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 The Research Context 2 1.2 The Research Questions 4 1.3 Justification for the study 4 1.4 My Professional Background 5 1.5 Definition of Terms 6 1.6 Overview of Thesis 6 2 Chapter 2 Literature Review 9 2.0 Introduction 9 2.1 What is Collaborative Learning? 10 2.2 Defining Collaborative Learning 10 2.3 Situating Collaborative Learning 11 2.3.1 Peer Tutoring 13 2.3.2 Cooperative Learning 14 2.3.3 Collaborative Learning 16 2.3.4 Dialogic Learning 17 2.3.5 Problem Based Learning and Enquiry Based Learning 20 2.4 True Collaborative Learning 25 2.5 Collaborative Learning Practices and Challenges 32 2.5.1 Students 33 2.5.2 Task Structure 39 2.5.3 Group Interaction 41 iii 2.5.4 Tutor’s Role 50 2.6 Learning Culture 56 2.6.1 Communities of Practice 60 2.7 Implications for this Study 61 3 Chapter 3 Methodology 65 3.0 Introduction 65 3.1 Research Context 65 3.2 Research Questions 66 3.3 Researcher Positionality 66 3.4 Research Design 68 3.4.1 Action Research 68 3.4.2 Case Study 68 3.4.3 Insider Case Study 71 3.4.4 Research Sample 73 3.5 Research Ethics 74 3.6 Data Collection Methods 75 3.6.1 Visual Methods 75 3.6.2 Observation 76 3.6.3 Participant Observation 77 3.6.4 Video and Audio Recording 80 3.6.5 Focus Groups 83 3.6.6 Comparability 85 3.7 Data Analysis and Interpretation 85 3.7.1 A Qualitative Dimension 85 3.7.2 Unstructured Data 86 iv 3.7.3 Transcription 87 3.7.4 Data Analysis 88 3.8 Thematic Analysis 88 3.8.1 Phases of Thematic Analysis 89 3.9 Research Legitimisation 93 3.9.1 Reliability 94 3.9.2 Validity 95 3.10 Limitations of the Design Frame 99 3.11 Chapter Conclusion 99 4 Chapter 4 Findings 100 4.0 Introduction 100 4.1 Research Context 102 4.2 Section 1: The Topic 105 4.3 Section 2: The Tutor 130 4.4 Section 3: The Student 138 4.5 Section 4: Interaction 146 4.6 Section5: Student Comments 152 4.7 Chapter Summation 160 5 Chapter 5 Discussion 161 5.0 Introduction 161 5.1 The Collaborative Formula 161 5.2 The positions, dispositions and actions of the tutor 163 5.3 The positions, dispositions and actions of the students 167 5.4 The course specification, syllabus and assessment 176 v 5.5 The time students and tutors spend together and the inter-relationships and the other sites students are engaged with 179 5.6 The effects of college management procedures and policy regulations 182 5.7 The wider vocational and academic culture of which any learning site is part 183 5.8 The wider social and cultural values regarding class, gender, ethnicity, employment opportunities, family life and the perceived status of the H.E. sector 184 5.9 Enacting a True Collaborative Learning Classroom 185 6 Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations 191 6.0 Introduction 191 6.1 Overview of the Study 191 6.2 Limitations of the Study 195 6.3 Contribution to Theory 197 6.4 Implications for Practice 198 6.5 Implications for Research 200 6.6 Dissemination and Publication 200 6.7 Conclusion 201 References 202 Appendices 213 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Peer Learning Environments 12 Figure 2: Peer Learning Continuum 12 Figure 3: The Collaborative Formula 161 vii List of Tables Table 1: Alexander’s Five Dialogic Teaching Criteria 18 Table 2: Comparative Analysis of Peer Learning Environments 26 Table 3: Deep and Surface Approaches to Learning 29 Table 4: Comparative of TCL to PBL, EBL and DL 31 Table 5: Summary of Resources in Education 117 Table 6: Summary of Student Behaviour 124 Table 7: Tutor Themes 137 Table 8: Student Themes 145 Table 9: Interaction Themes 150 Table 10: Students’ Comments on the TCL Classroom 156 Table 11: Students’ Comments on the TCL Environment 157 Table12: Students’ Comments on Personal Learning 158 Table13: Students’ Comments on Attendance 158 Table 14: Students’ Comments on Course Topics 159 Table 15: Students’ Comments on Collaborative Interaction 159 Table 16: Students’ Comments on the Tutor’s Role 159 viii Appendices Appendix 1: Ethical Approval University of Sheffield 213 Appendix 2: Higher Education Students Information Sheet 214 Appendix 3: Higher Education Student Participation Consent Form 218 Appendix 4: Summary of Students Topics Discussed 219 Appendix 5: Data Analysis Process: Worked Example 221 ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1.0 Introduction This chapter gives an insight into my journey and creates a contextual understanding for what follows. It outlines the research focus, the research questions and the rationale behind this study, providing a justification for this approach. Definitions of key words used within the research are clarified and an overview of the subsequent chapters outlined. This research stems from my practice and something I saw happening in one of my undergraduate classrooms. I noticed a high level of student engagement in a particular classroom and my practitioner instincts immediately questioned why, how and what were the underlying factors that enabled this unusually high level of engagement. The rationale behind those thoughts was that if I could explore and understand the constituents of this specific environment, then perhaps there were ways that I as a practitioner could encourage and promote this level of engagement in my other classes. I had no idea what I was observing and even where to start in the literature. In a very exploratory manner, I initially engaged with the literature reading around group learning and interaction, which quickly led me to peer learning, co-operative learning and eventually the idea of collaborative learning. All of these learning environments I realised had some elements similar to my experience but none were close enough to my setting. During this time I recognised that the word ‘collaborative’ was used loosely and generically among the authors and this posed its own difficulties in research terms in trying to specifically define my setting in context. Eventually I found an article written by Parr and Townsend (2002) where they suggested the idea of ‘true collaborative learning’ (TCL) and intimated that this was an even more advanced form of collaborative learning. This immediately resonated with me as being very close to my context and borrowing their term ‘true collaborative learning’, I attempted to explore and define it, and by doing so, create a deeper richer 1 understanding of this learning environment thereby differentiating it from other peer learning domains.
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