As part of my ongoing research on innovation in higher education, I have been gathering and analyzing data from innovation teams participating in our PROPEL initiative at American College of Education. After a recent round of qualitative coding, I found myself reflecting on what it means to collaborate with the goal of innovating. If an innovation team decides on a goal and begins developing an innovation with that shared goal in mind, is it collaboration if each team member conducts portions of the work independently? Innovation is complex and certainly requires sharing responsibilities and dividing up tasks, but what truly constitutes collaboration? Is collaboration pursuing a shared goal even if most of the work completed to that end is done in isolation? Does contributing to shared working documents through Office 365, Google, or similar platforms constitute collaboration?
There is a lot to consider around this topic, but right now, my answer would be no. To collaborate, individuals must come together to share ideas, knowledge, and skills to create something together. I believe part of that process requires synthesizing the work done independently, together. That sharing of knowledge, experience, and questions sparks the deep conversations that are necessary to truly create something meaningful. Synthesizing with others (what I’m coming to see as true collaboration) also brings different perspectives to the conversation. Rather than sharing static documents as products of one’s work, coming together to discuss the products of one’s work and critically consider next steps is a vital part of innovating collaboratively.
With so many ways to connect, how do you collaborate in a meaningful way? Do you collaborate on social media platforms? I could imagine using messaging platforms like Slack or microblogging/social networking sites like Twitter effectively to collaborate, although I can’t say my efforts to do so have been successful. What tools works for you?
How do you define collaboration and how do you foster it in a virtual environment?
