{"id":435,"date":"2018-11-18T23:32:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T23:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/?p=435"},"modified":"2018-11-19T01:00:38","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T01:00:38","slug":"interviewing-colleagues-to-gather-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/2018\/11\/18\/interviewing-colleagues-to-gather-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Interviewing Colleagues to Gather Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes I find it easier to look outside the world of education to broaden my perspective. Years ago, when I was trying to figure out how to teach adults through inquiry, most of the research came from the field of teaching nursing students – another supportive, nurturing field.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year I became interested in the nature of collaboration between adults at work\u00a0so I started to explore how people who work in other modern creative institutions interact. I ended up learning a lot about the role of the physical environment on how, where and when people interact in modern spaces by reading\u00a0\u00a0Innovation Spaces:\u00a0The New Design of Work by\u00a0Julie Wagner and Dan Watch,\u00a0April 2017<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“spaces designed with people and collaboration in mind not only bring innovative aesthetics, but also contribute to the modern economy and the strength of the communities in which they reside.” – Julie Wagner and Dan Watch<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

More recently, as part of my homework for Cohort21, I interviewed a few colleagues about their thoughts on effective collaboration. Their comments were fascinating and totally supported much of\u00a0what was in the aforementioned document.<\/p>\n

Serendipitous Encounters<\/h3>\n

One of the teachers I interviewed said that some of their best collaborations happen over lunch. She recently learned about a growth mindset lesson that was happening in a grade 1 class and thought that her grade 5 students could benefit from a similar approach. They talked about ways it could be adapted to the grade 5 content that was being explored. As a result, the grade 5 students are now developing additional experiences for the grade 1 students. The SK and grade 2 teachers learned about the plan and wanted to be part of it as well.<\/p>\n

In my earlier research these ‘hallway conversations’ were called \u201caccidental collisions\u201d or “serendipitous encounters” and featured as something that institutions should try to encourage with their physical design. Some other quotes from this document that seemed to support this sentiment that I found interesting:<\/p>\n

Thomas Allen, a management professor at MIT, found that inspirational conversations that stimulate creativity are an important precursor to actual innovation. This communication \u201cis usually spontaneous and often occurs between people who work in different organizational units, on different projects, while drawing on different disciplines\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people work in spaces that emphasize individual work, hierarchy, control or fear. Vertical separation [like between floors] creates even more organizational boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe probability for people within one organization to communicate effectively dissipates beyond 10m.\u201d –<\/i>Allen and Gunther Henn, <\/span>The Organization and Architecture of Innovation: Managing the Flow of Technology<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/h3>\n
\n
\"People

How can we bring teachers into close proximity to chat about what they are doing?<\/p><\/div>\n

Photo<\/a> by @priscilladupreez<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dispostion<\/h3>\n

Another teacher and Teaching Assistant who regularly plan together described the strength of their collaboration as hinging on their:<\/p>\n