JOCELYN WILLIAMS EDUCATOR

Why collaborate with others outside your direct team, in learning and teaching?

 

Why bring learners together from related sectors or disciplines?

 

Two reasons spring to mind.

 

• The world of work demands adaptable, responsive graduates who can work readily in mixed teams and interact with a wide range of people form different backgrounds.

• Ākonga (learners) can achieve so much more than their specific discipline knowledge and skills through working with others as part of their course mahi. 

 

​As that world of work continues to change rapidly in response to technological evolution and massive crises facing the planet and its occupants, as educators we need to continually find new ways to help graduates be ready to deal with that. Increasingly they need to be skilled and aware about being members of integrated, collaborative project teams. They need to know how to 'be' in relationship with others, as well as how to 'do' and 'know'.

 

I'm motivated to show colleagues that interdisciplinary collaborative project work can and should be a part of the everyday way we do things in Ako, aligning as closely as possible with what the real world is like. At the same time, ākonga and their mahi can be of huge benefit to communities and other enterprises. A project I led in over at least a year to produce a TV series The Living Community with student involvement, is a very good example. The resulting series of news-magazine style TV programmes featuring students was broadcast on Face TV at the time is six weekly episodes. These six community stories can still be viewed on YouTube. 

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A brief overview of the project is shown in a screen-grab below... essentially, six stakeholder communities! Six interdisciplinary ākonga teams, representing realistic work teams! Huge learning for all of them! And most wonderful, artefacts (community stories on film) that are lasting, and tell their stories.

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A final piece we completed slightly later than the first six, is a beautiful story of, and by, the Pacifica Mamas:

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In leading and driving the ongoing research and student learning relationships in a complex project like this I’m giving expression to Unitec’s longer-term commitment to (a) serving the community, (b) giving back to its catchment area, (c) developing rich and meaningful contexts for students doing real world projects, based on reciprocal provider-community relationship, and (d) delivering on “research with impact”.

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