Exploring dynamic processes of collaborative group learning in a blended Community Based (Service) Learning module for 3rd year Fine Art students
John McGarrigle (Wexford Campus IT Carlow)
Abstract
As recent pedagogies have promoted the use of more collaborative approaches to knowledge construction the current study intended to examine how students learn together about Community Based (Service) Learning in a blended module using both face-to-face and online learning experiences. To reinforce the collaborative nature, participant action research methodologies were used to involve the learners in analyzing processes of student engagement while they worked on a pilot programme that introduced Community Based (Service) Learning to the Third year of a B.A. Fine Art degree. As Zlotkowski (2007) suggests, large-scale quantitative methodologies (NSSE) have been employed to examine student engagement with the purpose of making traditional learning pedagogies more effective whereas the pedagogy of civic engagement central to Community Based (Service) Learning would suggest a more learner centred qualitative approach. The current study asked students to assess their own contributions to online discussions using the typology of passive, intense, collaborative and independent. These terms were proposed by Coates (2007) as a model of student engagement arising out of his quantitative study in Australia. By involving students in assessing their own efforts there was an opportunity to raise awareness of the value of collaboration to the learning experience in the initial stages of the module. Initial data was checked for inter-rater reliability by asking two independent lecturers to rate the contributions using the same typology. Results showed that there was little consensus between students and lecturers in relation to these terms with more agreement on the term ‘collaborative’ and less on the term ‘intense’. Results were fed back to students and a critique of the limitations of the typology and the assumptions it makes led to considering other aspects from the student learning experience. Later analysis ascertained whether collaboration had increased when students were engaged on a practical task. A questionnaire and individual interviews examined how students conceptualized community, online learning, reflection, collaboration and explored other aspects of the learning experience from the viewpoint of the learners. As this represents a novel use of e-learning to support knowledge construction in the area of Community Based (Service) Learning, valuable lessons can be shared with the academic community and opportunities to develop community links through ICT explored.
