On Collaboration: Personal, Educational and Societal Arenas

On Collaboration: Personal, Educational and Societal Arenas provides an elaborated analysis of what it means to collaborate, particularly in educational contexts. It thereby adopts a mixed-genre approach, following L. Vygotsky, who maintained that, for example, the works of Shakespeare and of Dostoyevsky had as much to teach us about the human psyche as laboratory studies and field observations. The authors draw on results of scientific research, particularly on collaborative learning and work, as well as on autobiographical narrative and analysis of works of art. In addition, they broaden the scientific perspective on collaboration from purely educational perspectives by including personal, artistic, and societal contexts. By exploiting benefits of different styles and genres (expository, narrative, fictional, argumentative) this text intends to lead readers towards further reflection on collaboration in their own lives, and towards deeper understanding of the complexity and misconceptions of collaboration, including its societal relevance.

Jerry Andriessen, Ph.D. (1991) Utrecht University, is a senior researcher with more than 150 journal and book publications on collaboration and technology in a great variety of educational and professional contexts.

Michael Baker is a tenured Research Director in psychology and language sciences of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Telecom Paris. His research focuses on analysing computer supported collaborative learning and argumentation.