Teaching Effective Collaboration Skills

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Teaching Effective Collaboration Skills

• Success Beyond the Sandbox
• Laurie Dinnebeil
• Laurie.dinnebeil_at_utoledo.edu
• A presentation at the 2005 Inclusion Institute,
  Chapel Hill, NC

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The Purpose of this Session is to

• Describe major types of collaborative
  relationships
• Coaching
• Consultation
• Supervision/Mentorship
• Teaming
• Discuss ways to prepare individuals to be
  effective partners

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Teaching Skills for Effective Collaboration

• Dinnebeil, L.A., Buysse, V., Rush, D., Eggbeer,
  L. (in press). Teaching Skills for Effective
  Collaboration. In P. Winton, J. McCollum, and C.
  Catlett (Eds.) Preparing effective professionals
  Evidence and applications in early childhood and
  early intervention. Washington, DC ZERO TO
  THREE Publishers.

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Whats So Important About Collaboration?

• The success of early education and intervention
  is dependent on the quality of relationships that
  adults have with children and each other
• Given that services to young children involve
  more than just one adult, the quality of the
  interactions between and among adults will have a
  direct impact on the quality of services.

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Collaboration Defined

• Each person both teaches and learns.
• Mutual respect for the role of each individual is
  implied and demonstrated.
• A strong degree of reciprocity underlies each of
  these relationships.
• A joint goal helps to serve as a roadmap to
  collaborative work.

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Major Types of Collaborative Relationships

• Coaching
• Consultation
• Supervision/Mentorship
• Teaming

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A Variety of People Can Serve in a Variety of
Roles
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Coaching

• Key Components of a Coaching Model
• Iterative and Interactive
• Reflection and Feedback
• Refine existing practices
• Develop new skills
• Promote continuous self-assessment and learning

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Process of Coaching

• Agree to participate in coaching relationship
• Identify goals, expected outcomes and criteria
  for measuring learners mastery
• Observe one another, reflect on current and/or
  new skills,
• Learn and practice new skills, provide feedback
• Evaluate success of coaching plan

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Consultation

• An indirect, triadic service delivery model in
  which a consultant and a consultee work together
  to address an area of concern or common goal for
  change.

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Process of Consultation

• Gaining entryclarify need for consultation and
  process, identify expected outcomes, delineate
  roles
• Gather additional information
• Use results of assessment to formulate observable
  and measurable outcomes
• Identify possible strategies select one or more
• Consultee implements selected strategies
• Evaluate success of plan

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Supervision/Mentorship

• Professional relationships designed to support
  knowledge and skill development, often in younger
  or less seasoned practitioner.
• Effective supervision or mentoring relationships
  are characterized by reflection, collaboration,
  and regularity.

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Process of Supervision/Mentorship

• Preparing for discussion
• Greeting and reconnecting
• Opening the dialogue and finding the agenda
• Information gathering and focusing on details
• Formulating hypotheses about the meaning of the
  issue being discussed
• Considering next stepsdiscuss options and make
  decision about issue.
• Closing acknowledge end of session, briefly
  recap, consider what lies ahead

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Descriptors of an Effective Team(Friend Cook,
2000)

• articulated goal understood by all team members,
• a climate in which all team members feel
  respected and valued,
• recognition that individual team members are
  accountable to the group,
• effective group process and ground rules that
  lay the foundation for the teams work,
• appropriate leadership skills of all team
  members.

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Process of Teaming

• Coming togetheracknowledge role of team, clarify
  goals and objectives
• Identify problem and gather information about it
• Generate possible solutions plan for solution
• Plan for and implement solution
• Evaluate success of solution

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Common Features of All Models

• Stages reflect a problem-solving approach to
  triadic intervention
• Stages are fluid, rather than fixed.

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Outcomes of Collaborative Models
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Requisite Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions

• Knowledge of
• Ones discipline
• Typical/atypical child development
• Setting and childs environment
• The collaborative process

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Interpersonal Style

• Successful collaborators are
• Flexible, adaptable approach to interaction
• Able to consider others perspectives and are
  able to set aside their own beliefs or
  expectations if they interfere with a productive
  working relationship
• Are objective and make sound decisions based on
  the reality of a situation.

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Interpersonal Skills

• Successful collaborators
• put others at ease and are viewed as genuine and
  respectful
• are reflective and can engage in active listening
• ask good questions and provide/accept appropriate
  feedback from others.
• are aware of the nonverbal behaviors that support
  or undermine interpersonal relationships.
• understand and can apply principles of group
  processing and problem-solving to their work with
  others.
• Successful collaborators know how to win friends
  and influence others.

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Attitudes, Values, and Dispositions

• Successful collaborators
• Are ethical practitioners
• Are highly cognizant of their own values and
  biases
• Possess equal amounts of self-confidence and
  humility
• Appreciate that both partners possess unique
  knowledge and skills
• Are curious and eager learners
• Appreciate that they are guiding another person
  they are not in control
• Understand that being a knowledgeable resource is
  not the same as being a know it all.

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Preparing Individuals for Collaborative Work

• Preparing individuals for work with other adults
  is complex and requires experiences along many
  different levels
• The kinds of learning experiences needed to
  support knowledge, skill, or attitude/value
  acquisition differs in complexity.

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Examples of Training Approaches and Learning
Activities for Building Knowledge and Skill
Related to the Collaborative Process (Adapted
from Harris, 1980 and McCollum Catlett, 1997)
Engaging in a collaborative relationship under
the supervision of a professional reflecting on
the experience
Attitudes, Values
Observing other professionals engaged in
collaborative relationships and analyzing their
behavior
Skill
Desired Impact (Learning outcomes from low to
high)

• Completing case studies
• In-class/In-session simulations

Knowledge

• Reading
• Lectures
• Guided notes

Awareness
Low
High
Complexity of synthesis and application required
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Instructional Strategies to Promote Skill
Building and Collaborative Dispositions

• Learners need genuine experiences to learn and
  apply critical skills. They should participate
  in group projects that require them to learn
  skills related to teamwork and collaboration.

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For example

• Students in a ECSE Methods Class are required to
  work together to develop an IEP for a fictitious
  child with a disability.
• Students are made aware that the goals of the
  project include enhancing their ability to work
  effectively with each other.
• Students set ground rules for group work and
  provide written (anonymous) feedback to each
  other at the conclusion of the project.

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Another Example

• Students work in teams to design and implement
  parent-child playgroups under the supervision of
  qualified personnel.
• In addition to gaining experience in conducting
  playgroups, students are aware that an explicit
  goal of the assignment is to learn to work
  together as a team.

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Another Example

• As part of a general methods course, preservice
  ECE teachers are required to videotape themselves
  teaching.
• Students partner with each other, viewing each
  others videotapes, provide written and verbal
  feedback
• Students are also required to provide a written
  reflection of the feedback process as well as a
  critique of their partners ability to provide
  feedback.
• The ability to provide and receive appropriate
  feedback is evaluated as part of the students
  course grade.

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Another Example

• As part of a mini-practicum, practicing ECSE
  professionals were required to design, implement,
  and evaluate a coaching or consultation plan. As
  part of this assignment, they identified an ECE
  professional who worked with a child with special
  needs.
• See Dinnebeil McInerney, 2001

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Components of the Plan

• Practicum Requirements were based on work by
  Wesley (1994) and were undertaken jointly between
  the student and her learning partner
• Identified child-focused goals and objectives,
• Evaluated the childs learning environment with
  the ECERS or ITERS
• Identified components of the environment that
  could be enhanced to support the childs
  learning,
• Developed a plan to modify or enhance the
  environment,
• Outlined child-focused intervention strategies to
  achieve the childs learning goals,
• Engaged in coaching or consultation strategies
  that helped their partner learn how to use the
  strategy,
• Gave feedback to the learning partner, and
• Monitored the childs progress through easily
  implemented data collection strategies.

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Another Example from Dr. McWilliam

• Students are required to develop an intervention
  checklist designed to help a learning partner use
  a specific strategy
• The checklist must outline operational steps to
  follow to correctly implement an intervention
  strategy.
• Students use the checklist to teach a learning
  partner to implement the strategy
• Both students and learning partners use the
  checklist to guide observations of each other and
  provide feedback about implementation

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A Final Example

• In order to give students authentic opportunities
  for giving and receiving specific and appropriate
  feedback, an instructor holds a knitting session
  in class.
• Those who know how to knit are required to teach
  a classmate, in class how to knit.
• After the activity, discussion focuses on giving
  appropriate feedback and instruction to an adult
  learner.

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Other Examples?
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Challenges to Effective Preparation

• Lack of exemplary practice settings
• Lack of practiced professionals
• Attitudes and values of the learners themselves
  (e.g., apprehension about being an expert,
  resistance to the model)
• Difficulty in supervising learners engaged in
  collaborative relationships
• Other challenges?

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Discussion or Questions?