COMPUTER SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE WORK, CREATIVITY PROCESSES AND INNOVATION IN TEACHER GROUPS. Sune Weile1, Eva Sjælland2 1
Aalborg University, MIL (DENMARK) Aalborg University, MIL (DENMARK)
2
Abstract The purpose of the project was to investigate and develop pedagogical innovations in education focusing on collaborative work processes of creativity and innovation. [1] The aim was to investigate how innovation and creativity processes in communities of practice [2] can support reflection, knowledge sharing, and professional development, [3] when the collaborative work processes takes place on digital interpersonal platforms. The project studied how teachers in a Danish “gymnasiums” reflected on their own practices in their professional groups, and how these reflections showed themselves in the narratives that were created within the communities of practice of the educational organization. A theory of creativity (Hansen & Byrge 2014) integrated with a theory of ICT collaboration (Sorensen 2000) was developed as framework to understand the teachers’ creative collaborative processes and how these processes may enhance career development focusing on reflection, knowledge sharing, and professional development on digital platforms in professional groups. On this basis a process model was developed and tested in two professional teacher groups in practice and on a digital platform. The analysis showed that the teachers do apply processes of creativity and innovation in order to develop solutions to challenges that they face in their daily lives. But these processes are difficult to transfer onto digital platforms. The investigation also showed that the narratives of a community of practice influence how a professional co-operation is organized, and how the cooperation on the digital platforms unfold. The conclusion of the project is that computer supported collaborative work in education is best underpinned if existing narratives about the use of ICT is taken into account and when the collaborative work processes are founded on the professional challenges and problems of teacher groups. Keywords: Innovation, ICT, creativity, collaboration
Indledning og mål Fokus i den danske uddannelsessektor er i disse år at udvikle de unges kreative evner og innovationskompetencer. (Paulsen, 2012) Det sker som et svar på flere udfordringer. En del af de manuelle jobs flytter til udlandet, og det antages, at vi fremover skal leve af at udvikle og anvende gode idéer snarere end vores produktionshastighed (Pedersen, 2011). Det sker også som et svar på de globale udfordringer, verden står overfor som fx hungersnød, vand- og energimangel, forurening og krig. Det vil, som FN allerede i 2000 pegede, (Olsen, 2006 s.3) kræve nye måder at tænke på, hvis så omfattende udfordringer skal løses. Håbet er, at en del af løsningen er innovative og kreative borgere. Pilen peger således på uddannelsesinstitutionerne, der forventes at kunne løfte opgaven med at uddanne unge til en verden i forandring. Fra politisk hold bliver der vedtaget reformer og stillet nye krav til indsatsområder, som uddannelsesinstitutionerne løbende skal honorere bl.a. motivation, digital dannelse og innovative kompetencer. (Undervisningsministeriet, 2014a; Undervisningsministeriet, 2015) Også erhvervslivet i Danmark stiller krav til kommende arbejdstagere, der ikke altid harmonerer med de kompetencer, som de unge får med sig fra uddannelsesinstitutionerne. (Industri Nyt, 2015; Dansk Industri, 2014), og fremtidens digitaliserede samfund vil kræve, at vi kan deltage som globale, demokratiske borgere, (borger.dk, 2015; Kulturstyrelsen, 2015). Det stiller store krav til skolernes ledelse om løbende at implementere ny viden i organisationen. Det stiller også store krav til lærerne om at implementere de nye tiltag i undervisningen, hvilket stiller krav til den enkelte lærers efteruddannelse. Det er svært at implementere nye tiltag i praksis, hvis lærerne ikke formår at udvikle egen faglighed. Det gælder også når det kræves af eleverne, at de skal tænke innovativt og kreativt.