Computer Coding and Choreography: Contrasting Experiences of Learning About Collaboration in Engineering and Creative Arts

Nicholas Rowe, Rose Martin, Nasser Giacaman

Abstract


This article argues that how collaboration is taught can have a significant impact on the ways in which collaboration is experienced, understood and valued.  In doing so, the study draws attention to performing arts studio-pedagogies, and their potential relevance to enhancing creativity within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Through a mixed-methods study of teachers’ and students’ experiences of group work, this article compares two disciplines that maintain distinct discourses on teaching collaboration: Software design and choreography. The quantitative data reveals that despite significant demographic differences, students from the two disciplines maintain a common enthusiasm for group learning. There are significant distinctions however, on student perceptions of the teaching and learning of collaboration, their learning achievements about group work, and the relevance of group work in their discipline.  Qualitative commentaries from students and teachers extend the arguments across both the distinctions and the similarities, emphasizing the impact of particular teaching practices and establishing standpoints for further research into the pedagogy of collaboration in higher education.

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.10.12


Keywords


collaboration; choreography; group-work; pedagogy; software design

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ađalsteinsdóttir, K. (2004). Teachers’ behaviour and practices in the classroom. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 48(1), 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/0031383032000149869

Amans, D. (2017). An introduction to community dance practice. London, UK: Macmillan International Higher Education.

Balaji, S., & Sundararajan Murugaiyan, M. (2012). Waterfall vs. V-Model vs. Agile: A comparative study on SDLC. International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management, 2(1), 26-30.

Barksdale, J. T., & McCrickard, D. S. (2012). Software product innovation in agile usability teams: an analytical framework of social capital, network governance, and usability knowledge management. International Journal of Agile and Extreme Software Development, 1(1), 52-77. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJAESD.2012.048302

Beck, K. (2000). Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change. Boston, USA: Addison-Wesley Longman.

Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32(3), 347-364.

Boden, R., & Nedeva, M. (2010). Employing discourse: universities and graduate ‘employability’. Journal of Education Policy, 25(1), 37-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930903349489

Buck, R., & Rowe, N. (2015). “Threshold concepts, academic identity and arts curricula design: Dr Who and Indiana Jones traverse learning landscapes for danceâ€. In M. Fleming, L. Bresler & J. O Toole (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of the Arts and Education (pp.170-184). London, UK: Routledge.

Buck, R., & Snook, B. (2018). Undisciplining arts education: Towards arts integration. Journal of Artistic and Creative Education, 12(1), 21-40.

Burbach, M. E., Matkin, G. S., Gambrell, K. M., & Harding, H. E. (2010). The impact of preparing faculty in the effective use of student teams. College Student Journal, 44(3), 752-761.

Butterworth, J. (2004). Teaching choreography in higher education: A process continuum model. Research in Dance Education, 5(1), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/1464789042000190870

Chen, C., Wang, Y., Kinshuk, & Chen, N. (2014). Is FLIP enough? Or should we use the FLIPPED model instead?. Computers & Education, 79(2014), 16-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.07.004

Cockburn, A. (2006). Agile software development: The cooperative game. London, UK: Pearson Education.

Cohen, E. G. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive small groups. Review of Educational Research, 64, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F00346543064001001

Creswell, J. (2016). Reflections on the MMIRA the future of mixed methods task force report. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 10(3), 215–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689816650298

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York, USA: Harper Collins.

Dawson, M. J., & Jones, M. L. (2003). Human change management: Herding cats. London, UK: Price Waterhouse Cooper.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1998). Strategies of qualitative inquiry. Thousand Oaks, USA: Sage.

Dillenbourg, P. (1999). Collaborative Learning: Cognitive and Computational Approaches. Bingley, USA: Elsevier.

Dingwall, R. (1997). Accounts, interviews and observations. Context and method in qualitative research, 51-65.

Fehr, E., & Gachter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415(10 January 2002), 137-140.

Foster-Sproull, S. (2017). Embodied economies: Locating the ‘prosumer-dancer’ within dnacers’ experiences of choreographic practice (Unpublished Master’s of Dance Studies thesis). University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Freeman, S., Eddy, S., McDonough, M., Smith, M., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8410-8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

Giacaman, N., & Sinnen, O. (2018). Preparing the software engineer for a modern multi-core world. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 118(1), 247-263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpdc.2018.02.028

Griffin, P., & Care, E. (2015). Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills: Methods and approach. New York, USA: Springer.

Hansen, R. (2006). Benefits and problems with student teams: Suggestions for improving team projects. Journal of Education for Business, 82(1), 11-19. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.82.1.11-19

Hennessy, S., & Murphy, P. (1999). The potential for collaborative problem solving in design and technology. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 9(1), 1–36.

Hesse, F., Care, E., Buder, J., Sassenberg, K., & Griffin, P. (2015). A framework for teachable collaborative problem solving skills. In E. Care, P. Griffin, & M. Wilson (Eds.), Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (pp. 37-56). Dordrecht: Springer.

Horder, J. (1995). Inter-professional education for primary health and community care: Present state and future needs. In K. Soothill, L. Mackay & C. Webb (Eds.), Inter-professional Relations in Health Care. London, UK: Edward Arnold.

Hung, S. Y., Durcikova, A., Lai, H. M., & Lin, W. M. (2011). The influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on individuals' knowledge sharing behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 69(6), 415-427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2011.02.004

Jermann, P., & Dillenbourg, P. (2008). Group mirrors to support interaction regulation in collaborative problem solving. Computers and Education, 51, 279–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2007.05.012

Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (2009). An educational psychology success story: Social interdependence theory and cooperative learning. Educational Researcher, 38(5), 365-379. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X09339057

Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. (2004). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14–26. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X033007014

Lavender, L. (2009). Dialogical practices in teaching choreography. Dance Chronicle, 32(3), 377-411. https://doi.org/10.1080/01472520903276735

Lavender, L., & Predock-Linnell, J. (2001). From improvisation to choreography: The critical bridge. Research in Dance Education, 2(2), 195-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647890120100809

Lehikoinen, K. (2018). Setting the context: Expanding professionalism in the arts - A paradigm shift. In B. Revelli & S. B Florander (Eds.), Careers in the Arts: Visions for the Future. (pp. 16-30). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: ELIA.

Mattessich, P., & Monsey, B. (1992). Collaboration: what makes it work. A review of research literature on factors influencing successful collaboration. St. Paul, USA: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

McMahon, K., Ruggeri, A., Kammer, J. E., & Katsikopoulos, K. V. (2016). Beyond idea generation: The power of groups in developing ideas. Creativity Research Journal, 28(3), 247-257. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2016.1195637

Nahachewsky, A. (1995). Participatory and presentational dance as ethnochoreological categories. Dance Research Journal, 27(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.2307/1478426

Nuthall, G. (1997). Understanding student thinking and learning in the classroom. In B. Biddle, T. Good & I. Goodson (Eds.), The International Handbook of Teachers and Teaching (pp. 681-768). Dortrecht, Germany: Kluwer.

Owen, D. (2015). Collaborative decision making. Decision Analysis, 12(1), 29-45. https://doi.org/10.1287/deca.2014.0307

Rodgers, D. T. (1982). In search of progressivism. Reviews in American History, 10(4), 113–132. https://doi.org/10.2307/2701822

Rowe, N. (2019). The great neoliberal hijack of collaboration: a critical history of group-based learning in tertiary education. Higher Education Research & Development, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1693518

Rowe, N., Martin, R., Buck, R., & Mabingo, A. (2020). Teaching collaborative dexterity in higher education: Threshold concepts for educators. Higher Education Research and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1833843

Rowe, N. & Zeitner-Smith, D. (2011). Teaching creative dexterity to dancers: critical reflections on conservatory dance education in the UK, Denmark and New Zealand. Research in Dance Education, 12(1), 42-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2011.556716

Soller, A., Martinez, A., Jermann, P., & Muehlenbrock, M. (2005). From mirroring to guiding: A review of state of the art technology for supporting collaborative learning. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 15(4), 261-290. https://telearn.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00197378/

Thapalia, C. F. (1996). Animation and leadership. In J. Servaes, T. L Jaconson, & S. A. White (Eds.), Participatory Communication for Social Change. (pp. 150-161). New Delhi, India: Sage.

Van Dyke, J. (2005). Teaching choreography: Beginning with craft. Journal of Dance Education, 5(4), 116-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2005.10387300

Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative interview studies. New York, USA: The Free Press.

Whitehead, J. (2007). Collaboration in software engineering: A roadmap. In 2007 Future of Software Engineering. (pp. 214–225). IEEE Computer Society. https://doi.org/10.1109/FOSE.2007.4


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 1694-2116

p-ISSN: 1694-2493