In this third reflection I have an extra paragraph I decided to write. It is partially because I am co-hosting the theme 3 and therefore I think about the structure of the whole theme, and where we as a team are at every moment of our discussion. Also, the topic of learning in communities is not a stranger to me. This autumn my working team worked on the article for a conference about learning communities, and it was an interesting time to explore and luckily for me, I got a ‘heads up’ of this topic coming.
So, in this reflection I will add a few notes about my experiencing as a moderator, as I feel I want to memorise it. On top of our regular learner duties, I will include some thoughts on the process and how it works for me. Skip it if you are here to work and get feedback on the theme reflection only or read along if you like.
Moderating experience.
As part of our course practice each of us has to help our main facilitators Erik Månsson and Bernadine Mons host the sessions. We do it in shifts and initially were supposed to work in pair for one topic. Now when our group got smaller we might to do more moderating shifts per person, but this is a worry for another day.
As I co-hosting theme 3 meetings for my team, I appreciate a lot the structure our facilitators created for the group to go on as the theme progressed. I got used to Padlet, and the FISH model and it feels comfortable enough to work with them. I still lack a good understanding of the timeline planned vs delivered, and have a constant feeling that we are behind schedule in our discussion and delivering the result. I feel I have to stop myself every now and then from pushing forward and let others contribute. The role of the moderators requires patience and acceptance of things go to a direction you would not go on your own, explore the questions you would not ask yourself, restrain yourself from having answers for everything and all, and what is most challenging for me keep things simple.
So, I try my best with the tools I have at the moment and learn as well as we go. Being a moderator definitely an extra work, but it is rewarding if you let it be.
I found that the most challenging for me now is to contribute on top of moderating, hear my own voice, my thoughts in that chorus of opinions and ideas, but focus on what I want and have to say. The creator and moderator/manager roles are very difficult to combine and I had this challenge before with my projects and businesses. More often than not I bend towards managing side of things, as it provides a better overview on the whole thing. But then the challenge with this for me is to get to a deeper thinking waters that I also enjoy so much when I am on my solo exploration. And I wonder if it is the theme where I got the introduction of a next level of collaboration which might be possible: the possibility of going to deep water as a part of a group, not a solo and not only as a safety guard of that group.
I really appreciate the involvement of all my group members in the discussion and our writing sessions, I know it is not always easy to contribute and create something in real time with others, as I am also there challenging myself to talk from myself and hear what others have to say. But I should say that it was indeed an enjoyable place to be and discussion to share.
And now back to my individual learning focus and the reflection on the theme:
Focus of my team for this topic is: What contributes to a collaborative online learning environment?
I think that my individual exploration interest is getting within this one pretty well, but still is shifting towards individual benefits: the recognition of the working and learning environment you want yourself to find rather often, red flags that you can spot from far apart, potential issues with the team dynamic as a whole, and how you as an individual contributor and as a team member can successfully challenge this issues on organisational level.
I think my intention come from the understanding that you cannot really control others, but can ignite the spirit of collaboration within, looking for a prospective place, projects, people, investing in the grateful sources of development and practice. So, I think at first you’d need to work with yourself.
This brings me to the second point that I really like things that are practical, clear and short. At the same time, I feel that inviting open-ended dialogues, different opinions, and support exploration practices are important parts of the process. And forming and crystallising the meaningful code of conduct that fits all takes time. Based on the discussions we had, and articles that were suggested for us to read, tried to come up with a few points that I would like to pay closer attention to when trying to develop better individual practices to establish, support, and maintain collaborative learning and working environment:
Effective Communication: Clearly articulate ideas, listen actively, and ensure everyone feels heard and understood.
Setting Clear Goals: Collaboratively establish clear, achievable objectives to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards common goals.
Recognizing and Celebrating Achievements: Acknowledge individual and team accomplishments to boost morale and reinforce a sense of shared purpose.
Sharing Knowledge and Resources: Offer help, share information, and provide support to colleagues to enhance the collective performance.
Openness to Feedback: Be receptive to constructive criticism and willing to provide it in a respectful and helpful manner.
Proactive Problem-Solving: Take initiative to address challenges and suggest improvements, showing a commitment to the team’s success.
I feel the first three points would be especially important to work with for me, as the ability to promptly and clearly say what I want to say helps enormously in the fast-paced working and learning environment. I did not include here anything related to inclusivity, empathy, and understanding which are the points that would be definitely important for creating a comfortable learning environment where all feel heard, welcomed, and contributing. I did not do it because in my mind I am still leaning towards working rather than learning environment exploration practices and I feel the points I mentioned are less relevant in business settings and orientation on your own moral compass is something that has to serve those to be present and in use. All this can be summed up by the note that continuous learning and self-development are some of the things we can do to support ourselves and encourage others to develop in interpersonal communication and contribute to a better community experience for all.
And finally, what does ‘effective communication’ mean in practice? What do I need to do to become better at it? Here is a list of nonverbal, verbal, and other practices that help:
Non-verbal: active listening, non-verbal cues such as eye contact and facial expressions.
Verbal: avoiding jargon or overly complex languages and sentences; organise your thoughts before speaking to ensure my message is easy to follow; stick to the main point and avoid unnecessary details; adjust your tone to suit the context of the theme and the audience; think about your communication style and how to adapt it to different situations and personalities; use positive language and constructive approach, avoid of be careful with negative or blaming expressions; clarify any uncertainties as soon as possible to avoid misunderstandings; encourage dialog and ask an open-ending question to gather information and being able to listen and learn.
Other: choose the right time to communicate; seek feedback on your communication style and be willing to make adjustments; reflect on past interactions to identify areas to improve; use various communication channels; practice communication in different live scenarios to build confidence; continue to learn from books, courses, workshop, and other people.
Reflection on the article provided in the ‘reading section’.
In the team discussion on our focus on the topic, I wrote that I see this as a process and suggest that different things might contribute to the collaborative online learning environment on a different stages of its development. But before (and if at all) I develop that thought, I’d like to take a closer look at the suggested literature. I probably will mention only one, as I found it is plenty to think about. Also, in general this topic brought so many thoughts that I feel I do not know what I want to think first, as all of them are so interesting and entertain me at the moment. But, anyway, to the book that I found provides so many answers, but as well a myriad of new questions:
In the (Ringer, M., Gordon, R., & Vandenbussche, B. (2022).Igniting the collective spark: The relevance of thinking together Í The collective spark: Igniting thinking in groups teams and the wider world. (bls. 8–21)) a lot of things that I was wondering seemed to be addressed in the different chapters: I am rather skeptical when thinking about collective intelligence and based on my experiences I would say that (sadly) not every working meeting or team can progress to the collaborative learning and working together as it is described in the book. The chapter that describes when groups ‘do not think together’ and why reminded me and recall the feelings I had when I was running ideating/collaborative/ brainstorming workshops for people working in the same company but having a very strong agenda of their own and unable to switch to anyone’s ‘channel’ because of the mentioned (in the book) reasons: environment does not feel safe enough that you can speak your own mind, forbidden zones or norms and taken-for-granted assumptions, hierarchical non-verbal vibes of ‘democratically open’ discussion, between management and staff, group members with destructive behavioral patterns either they aware of them or not, and the list continues. I sadly found quite many points here familiar to me in one or another teams and projects I’ve been working with.
The result of this read was a better acceptance of my own intuitive way to organise my work and relationships I would like to build around myself in my working. I often find myself in teams where working etiquette dictates quite distant relations with your co-workers, where ‘it is just business, and nothing personal’ and it feels very strange to spend a lot of time with people who do not feel to be emotionally involved in your collaboration, in you, in the project you do together. It feels like wasted opportunity, even though the project goes smoothly. I used to ignore this feeling, thinking that it is ‘cultural’ differences, mismatch of a sort, or just a glitch in my emotional system. Now I might rethink this thought.
At the same time, I understand that I am myself cannot always be the one who would satisfy this ‘nice to have’ list of collaborative partner-in- crime we have in this book, and I wonder myself where is the true alchemy of collaborative thinking, working and learning lies and starting? Do you have aiming to find the right people to work with? Is it possible to build the environment without considering your peers and transform their thinking emitting and influencing the ‘room’ by certain practices and your own presence? Do you have to start with yourself (I think the answer to this is quite self-evident: always)? Is it possible to promote a ‘working/learning- together’ mode in any working environment? Is there a situation that you have to treat as a ‘red flags’ and as something that is ‘hopeless’? There are so many questions, and indeed the book is really something that I would like to read this book from the beginning to an end with a hope to find more answers.
