Collaborative skills

1. Is it possible to teach/
learn collaborative skills
while still having fun?
JANE BURNS, HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION CENTRE,
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES, UCD

2. Defining Collaboration
1. the action of working with someone to
produce something
2. traitorous cooperation with an enemy
3. working with other people using different
strengths and weakness to accomplish a
goal
WHERE IS THE FUN IN THIS?

3. SCAVENGER HUNT TO THE RESCUE
BACKGROUND
 MANAGEMENT FOR INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS COURSE
 CLASS OF 52 STUDENTS (60% MLIS/40% MSc). FROM 12
DIFFERENT COUNTRIES – MANY ENGLISH NOT 1ST LANGUAGE
 COURSE APPROACH-THEORY & PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS/EXPERIENCE
 ASSESSMENT IS PRIMARILY BASED ON GROUP WORK
 WANTED STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND REAL LIFE SCENARIOS
 TO TEST COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND DEVELOP
TEAMWORK

4. SCAVENGER HUNT TO THE RESCUE
OBJECTIVES
 ICE BREAKER/MIXING OF CULTURES AND COURSES
 STUDENTS TO MEASURE THEIR REAL LIFE STRENGTHS COMPARED
TO SELF EVALUATION
 TEAM MENTALITY (COLOURED BANDANAS/US VS. THEM)
 PRINCIPLES OF COLLABORATION AS APPLIED TO REAL LIFE
 SOMETIMES YOU ARE PUT INTO GROUPS WITH OTHER PEOPLE YOU
DO NOT KNOW
 INFORMATION YOU ARE GIVEN IS NOT ALWAYS CLEAR OR
ACCURATE
 PRESSURE OF TIME FRAMES/BALANCED AGAINST RESULTS

5. SCAVENGER HUNT TO THE RESCUE
OBJECTIVES
 IMPORTANCE OF PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR ENVIROMENT
 CLUES ARE EVERYWHERE-SO PAY ATTENTION
 APPRECIATION OF UCD SCULPTURE TRAIL , LIBRARY SWOP SHELF
AND GENERAL ENVIRONMENT
 OUTPUTS FROM ACTIVITY
 CAPTURING AN EVENT IN TIME
 DOCUMENTING THE EVENT FOR OTHER PURPOSES(NEWSPAPER
HEADLINES/FLORA & FAUNA/ SOCIAL/ TEMPORAL AND
GEOGRAPHICAL META DATA
 BENEFITS OF REFLECTIONS IN MULTIPLE WAYS
 TO HAVE SOME FUN !!!!

6. GANGS OF UCD

7. STUDENT FEEDBACK
 “I LOVED IT! MET PEOPLE I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE NEVER TALKED TO”
 “FOUND MY CAPSTONE GROUP- IF I CAN DO THIS [SH] WITH THESE PEOPLE I CAN
DO A THESIS”
 “I HATED EVERY MINUTE OF THIS” I DON’T LIKE WORKING UNDER PRESSURE!”
 “AS A FOREIGN STUDENT WHO IS REALLY SHY THIS HELPED ME MAKE FRIENDS”
 “I THOUGHT ALL THE COLLABORATION READING WAS BS BUT IT DOES MAKE SENSE”
 “NEVER THOUGHT OF LEARNING AS FUN”
 “WORKING TOGETHER CAN BE HARD WORK, BUT REALSING THE PROJECT ISN’T
JUST ABOUT YOU HELPS!”
 “STRESSFUL AND CONFUSING, NO ONE WOULD LISTEN TO ME, I AM A LEADER”

8. COLLABORATION IN A WORK
ENVIRONMENT
 CAN IT WORK? DEPENDS BUT WORTH A TRY
 OFTEN PUT ON COMMITTEES/PROJECTS WITH LITTLE OR NO
DIRECTION
 LEARNING TO DO THIS IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT CAN HELP
 SCAVENGER HUNT IN THE OFFICE/LIBRARY ENVIRONMENT?
 MAYBE- IF GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ARE CLEAR
 APPRECIATE THE ENVIRONMENT YOU ARE IN
 WHAT TOOLS & RESOURCES CAN I DRAW ON NOW AND IN
FUTURE
 REALLY COMMUNICATING AND UNDERSTANDING OTHERS
 WHERE TEAM WORK IS ESSENTIAL

9. FINISH LINE
 IS IT POSSIBLE TO TEACH/LEARN COLLABORATIVE SKILLS AND STILL
HAVE FUN?
 YES! BUT IT TAKES WORK- ESPECIALLY USING A SCAVENGER HUNT
 MAPS/CLUES/OBJECTS AND EXTRA HELP (STUDENTS 2013)
 IT IS MORE THAN A SCAVENGER HUNT
 CAPTURIING OF INFORMATION- CREATE A MEMORY
 MAKE SURE THERE IS TIME FOR REFLECTION
 BRING IN REAL LIFE SCENARIOS- WRONG INFO OR MISDIRECTION
 BE PREPARED- SOME PEOPLE WILL HATE IT
 The Orange Team
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atChMWM_2_A

10. THANK YOU
Jane Burns, MBA, MLIS, MPHIL, FLAI
Twitter: JMBurns99
janeaburns@gmail.com