Understanding nomadic collaborative learning groups

Abstract

The paper builds on the work of Rossitto et al. on collaborative nomadic work to develop three categories of practice of nomadic collaborative learning groups. Our study is based on interviews, workshops and observations of two undergraduate student's group practices engaged in self‐organised, long‐term collaborations within the frame of Problem and Project Based Learning. By analysing the patterns of nomadic collaborative learning we identify and discuss how the two groups of students incorporate mobile and digital technologies as well as physical and/or non‐digital technologies into their group work. Specifically, we identify the following categories of nomadic collaborative learning practices: “orchestration of work phases, spaces and activities,” “the orchestration of multiple technologies” and “orchestration of togetherness.” We found that for both groups of students there was a fluidity, situatedness and improvisational aspect to how they negotiate the orchestration of their work. Their ways of utilising space, places, technologies and activities over time was a complex interweaving of the digital and physical. We conclude by suggesting that the three categories of practice identified are important for deepening our understanding of nomadic collaborative learning groups.

Cooperative Collaboration in the Hybrid Space of Google Docs Based Group Work

“…In an empirical examination of collaborative groups, Ryberg et al describe how students "utilize mobile and other technologies to enable them to complete their collaborative work" [4]. They apply the notion of "nomadic work" to describe group activities along three categories, where the first-"orchestration of work phases, spaces and activities"-details how the students' decisions are situated in relation to the specific task as well as the temporal and spatial settings they are working within.…”

“…They apply the notion of "nomadic work" to describe group activities along three categories, where the first-"orchestration of work phases, spaces and activities"-details how the students' decisions are situated in relation to the specific task as well as the temporal and spatial settings they are working within. The other two categories-"orchestration of multiple technologies" and "orchestration of togetherness"-point out that collaborative learning today involves continuous flexibility where uses of digital and physical technologies are always highly interweaved, and students alternate between collaborative and cooperative work [4]. The three categories roughly correspond to three classic education theoretical categories: pedagogy, learning technology, and social context.…”

“…Within research on group work, there has been a tendency "to focus on either face-to-face group work in physical settings or, increasingly, on collaborative learning and group work within online and web based part-time and/or distance learning programmes" [4]. In line with recent, more holistic perspectives within education theory on learning in blended or hybrid spaces [5,6], this paper conceptualizes Google Docs as a hybrid learning space that needs to be examined with attention to pupils' face-to-face collaboration in the physical classroom space as well as in the online, virtual space on their laptops and on Google Docs.…”

Between the Blabbering Noise of Individuals or the Silent Dialogue of Many: a Collective Response to ‵Postdigital Science and Education′ (Jandrić et al. 2018)

“…In this brief commentary, we share an empirical example illustrating the intertwined nature of the digital and non-digital to add some flesh and blood to this general idea. The example stems from our field work within the past 5 years, where we have explored students' use of digital technologies as part of their problem-oriented project work in Aalborg University (Ryberg et al 2018). In particular, we have observed students from the programme Architecture and Design (A&D) and have had the opportunity to video-record substantive amounts of video-data of their everyday work in their studios located on the same floor.…”

Postdigital Possibilities: Operaismo, Co-research, and Educational Inquiry

“…(Alexenberg 2011: 35) This idea of interplay and entanglement is evident in more recent accounts of what postdigital perspectives or sensitivities in education might entail. Ryberg et al (2018) discuss complex orchestrations entangling space and place, technologies, and social interactions, and Jandrić et al (2018) characterize postdigital education as an untidy yet generative space with the capacity to challenge notions of the digital, the virtual and the online, and to rupture existing theories and their continuation.…”