College of Education and Human Development
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This community contains materials created by the faculty, students, and staff of College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.
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Browsing College of Education and Human Development by Subject "Collaboration"
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Item Beginning with Trusted Friends: Venturing Out to Work Collaboratively in Our Institutions(2006) Kosnik, Clare; Freese, Anne; Samaras, Anastasia P.Aself-study community encourages the sharing of experiences and new insights, both positive and negative. The building of knowledge develops through dialogue in a personal-constructivist-collaborative approach (Beck, Freese, & Kosnik, 2004). Loughran and Northfield (1998) note that the individual perspective may be a significant paradox in self-study terminology. The term, self-study, suggests that the individual is the focus of the study, yet self-study is a collective task (Elijah, 2004; Ham & Kane, 2004). Samaras & Freese (2006) write of this paradox of self-study as both personal and interpersonal. It is as if the community leads (Vygotsky, 1978) or completes (Newman & Holzman, 1993) development. Collaboration does not mean harmony. Interactions may cause the individual to question his/her position or those of others as they develop new understandings. Beyond the cognitive level, self-study scholars have the emotional support of self-study colleagues who are invested in improving learning and teaching through selfstudy. Kosnik, Beck, and Freese (2004) state that an inclusive and equitable self-study community fosters personal and professional growth which impacts program development. LaBoskey (2004) affirms the need for a supportive and interactive community in the knowledge building process. This paper addresses the impact of our collaborative experiences in the self-study community. We discuss how it has supported and influenced our personal and professional thinking as well as our work in our home institutions.Item Self-study of the craft of faculty team teaching in a non-traditional teacher education program(2006) Samaras, Anastasia P.; Kayler, Mary A.; Rigsby, Leo C.; Weller, Karen L.; Wilcox, Dawn ReneeWe share our self-study research of faculty building a successful collaborative culture and team teaching experience in a unique Master’s program for PK-12 practicing teachers. As part of selfstudy and reflective practice, this particular faculty team shared its collaborative experiences with teachers. This transparency impacted teachers’ perceptions of faculty and their own teaming experiences. To frame our work, we use the notion of learning zones (Samaras, 2002, 2004), adapted from Vygotsky's (1978) conception of zone of proximal development. A multi-vocal perspective on the processes of faculty professional development and program development is presented.Item Spheres of Learing in Teacher Collaboration(Springer, 2006) Samaras, Anastasia P.; DeMulder, E.K.; Kayler, Mary A.; Newton, L.; Rigsby, L.C.; Weller, K.L.; Wilcox, D.R.In this chapter, we report on two studies in a Master’s program for practicing teachers that maintains collaborative culture making at its core, for students and faculty alike. We conducted two studies related to this collaborative culture making and concluded that collaboration is essential to programs of study for teachers and teacher educators. In the first study, we investigated the perspectives of our alumni on their collaborative experiences. Findings indicated links between alumni’s multi-layered collaborative experiences in the program and their subsequent pursuit of National Board certification. In the second study, we conducted a collective self-study of a faculty teaching team’s collaborative experiences and factors that they believe enhanced their continued professional development. Both studies are placed within a description of the Initiatives in Educational Transformation (IET) program, which aligns with sociocultural practices of learning with and through others. To frame our work, we draw from Vygotskian (1978) theory and Samaras’ (2004) notion of learning zones, adapted from Vygotsky’s conception of the zone of proximal development and the social construction of knowledge. The work of Lave and Wenger (1991) in situated learning also informs this work.