e-Learning Initiatives in China: Pedagogy, Policy and Culture

Section 4: Managing Collaboration Processes

Managing Collaboration Processes 155 Section 4 Managing Collaboration Processes 156 Section 4 An important aim of the eChina-UK Programme has been to strengthen collaboration between China and the UK. It was hoped that if British and Chinese partners worked together on a common task, there would be a number of positive outcomes for both countries, including the following: • the emergence of innovative ideas about e-learning design, which could be tested through the delivery of pilot courses; • a growth in mutual understanding of HE issues in each other’s contexts, including those pertaining to e-learning; • the forging of collaborative partnerships which would extend beyond the life of the programme. However, effective collaboration does not happen by chance, of course — it needs to be managed appropriately. Martha Maznevski, who has researched diversity in groups in the business context, argues as follows: Understanding our differences is the first step to managing them synergistically. (Maznevski 1994: 549) The common element in high performing groups with high member diversity is integration of that diversity. . . . diversity leads to higher performance only when members are able to understand each other, combine, and build on each others’ ideas. (Maznevski 1994: 537) The eChina-UK project members were diverse in numerous ways (including nationality, academic specialty, professional role, pedagogic beliefs, prior experience of e-learning, level of bilingualism, level of seniority, personality), and all of these factors affected team processes. We found that even that first step of ‘understanding our differences’ was more challenging than we ever anticipated. This section, therefore, explores some of these challenges. Spencer-Oatey and Tang, in Chapter 10, take a programme management perspective and discuss the various elements of collaboration that needed to be managed effectively at different stages of the programme. Using as a framework Canney Davison and Ward’s (1999) ‘best practice guidelines’ for leading and managing international teams, they consider the various issues that arose at each stage and the ways in which they were handled. They end the chapter with a set of recommendations for handling future collaborations of this kind. In Chapter 11, McConnell, Banks, and Lally explore the similarities and differences in pedagogic beliefs and approaches that they experienced in their project. They explain the challenges they faced in developing an understanding of these similarities and differences, the impact that their varying perspectives had on the materials design and development process, and the ways in which they sought to harmonize their viewpoints and achieve a new, intercultural approach. Managing Collaboration Processes 157 Motteram, Forrester, Goldrick and McLachlan, in Chapter 12, emphasize the multiple voices within their project team. Using Activity Theory (e.g. Engeström 2001) as a conceptual framework, they draw attention to the crucial role of ‘boundary crossers’. They argue that an artefact or a tool can be a helpful focus to discussions and collaborations that attempt to cross boundaries, and they illustrate their argument by describing the role that the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) had within their project. 158 Section 4 ...