As my elective I chose the Working Together module. I have really enjoyed this module so far and have noticed how it could be used in practice already. The term collaboration comes up a lot in the lectures and we were given as essay to write on the term.

I have always been intrigued to find out more about collaboration so I did some research. I found that collaboration is when a group of people work together to complete a task and there are two types of collaboration:

– Synchronous collaboration- people meet at the same time for example in a room together or on Skype

– Asynchronous collaboration- not everyone is available so work is discussed by uploading documents or discussions online (aiim, 2005).

I noticed from research that there are various theories on collaboration: Huxham and Vangen (2005) and Frost. Frost identifies four different ways of working together and has identified them in levels. The theory I found most interesting was Huxham and Vangen (2005) as I could really relate and see their ideas in practice. Huxham and Vangen (2005) developed a theory of collaborative practice. They developed a ‘trust building loop’ which aimed to get everyone that was involved in collaboration to trust each other in order to initiate the collaboration. However they also stated that trust can take a while to develop.

Since reading into collaboration I can see that it is everywhere. As part of this module we are split into peer learning groups and in these groups we collaborate. We share ideas and develop each others. Out of the two types of collaboration we use both as we meet everyone Monday to work on our essays and tasks that have to be completed. We also have a facebook chat where we communicate with each other regarding information needed for our essays. I feel that we collaborate effectively as we all work well together. Everyone has a say in the group and disputes are always resolved.

Sources used

aiim (2015) What is Collaboration? Available online at: http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Collaboration (Accessed: 29th November 2015).

Huxham, C. and Vangen, S. (2005) Managing to Collaborate: The Theory and Practice of Collaborative Advantage. London: Routledge.